By Salisu Ibrahim Fagge
Fagge residents are daily decrying severe traffic gridlock, rising insecurity, and crumbling infrastructure.
Markets and businesses are gradually overrunning homes and streets, residents are crying for help, amidst lawmakers’ silence.
The once serene and quiet residential neighborhood is gradually transforming into a chaotic commercial hub.
Residents are now asking: Is Fagge under siege or is the area abandoned by its leaders?
A quiet morning in Fagge is a thing of the past. From dawn to dusk, the area is consumed by the noise of offloading trucks, shouting traders in the daytime and roaring generators in the night. Ibrahim Taiwo Street, one of Kano’s busiest roads, is witnessing unprecedented gridlock. Trailers meant to load and offload inside surrounding markets have taken over the road, making traffic movement so hectic. Truck pushers are seen moving in opposite directions without recourse to the traffic regulations, at times injuring people trying to cross the road. Passers by are in panic whenever they want to use the road. “We don’t know from where a cart pusher will alight, we have to look both sides even on the single side of the road. We have to be very careful or we end up in hospital”, Malam Balarabe Salihi, a resident of Ikki road, Fagge ‘A’, said.
Once a well-planned residential area, Fagge has been steadily overtaken by Kantin Kwari, Singer, and Sabon Gari markets, with an avalanche of roadside businesses and springing of uncontrolled warehouses. “First, one shop opened. Then five. Now, over time, it’s now 80% of Ibrahim Taiwo Street turning into a market.
Fagge’s master plan has been rapidly eroded. The breakdown began with the displacement of Kantin Kwari residents, which spread to Bello Road, Bello Dandago, and Sani Ungogo Roads. From both sides of Singer and Kwari Markets, businesses have encroached deep into residential areas. The road leading to Muhammad Jidda General Hospital is gradually being taken over by petty businesses.
Added to this challenge is the gradual encroachment of Bureau de change operations into the residential quarters. WAPA bureau de change operators have equally encroached into significant portions of the residential area, taken over several houses from the other end”, Malam Saleh Ibrahim, a 50-year old resident, lamented.
For residents, the question is no longer if their homes will be swallowed by commerce, as they are gradually being pushed out of their residencies, but their grave concern is why their representatives — including a federal minister from the area, special adviser to the President on media, the officials in the local government, are cold on the gradual takeover of the residential quarters.
“It seems, all these officials, elected and the appointed have abandoned their responsibilities”, said Muhammad Kabir.
On a daily basis, residents are repeatedly demanding answers: Where are the local government officials, lawmakers, the special adviser to the President and the Minister in the Federal Cabinet?
Now, with the commencement of political campaigns, issues are no more about the gradual degeneration of the area but discussions are awash with how Hon. Tukur Mohammed, who is in the State Assembly, Hon. Mohammed Bello Shehu, who is in the House of Representatives, would return to their positions in the next election. Abudlaziz Abudlaziz, who is also the Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Hon. Yusuf Abdullahi Ata, holding the position of Minister of State for Housing in the Cabinet are apparently more concerned about the President’s re-election. Yet on the lips of every resident is “why are these officials unable to intervene or even call for a single meeting with members of the Community to get their pulse on issues affecting their lives.
The disturbing issues of Youth unemployment, proliferation of underage children roaming the streets and several out of school children, are some of the critical issues requiring the officials attention but the forum to discuss these issues isn’t forthcoming.
Across Fagge, as homes are being converted to shops and warehouses without an apparent “Change of Use” and approvals, “our children can no longer play safe outside. Trucks block our gates. By night, it is no better,” Malam Saleh said.
The unchecked commercialization has already created five major crises:
1. Gridlock: Double-parked trailers and street trading blocking easy passage the historic Muhammad Jidda General Hospital.
2. Drainage channels are clogged with trash and market waste while houses are threatened whenever there is heavy downpour.
3. The influx of non-residents and late-night trading has fueled fears of possible theft, as street kids loiter, with the threat of drug pedaling.
4. The trailers fumes, dust, and poor waste disposal are becoming a source of concern, as they might cause respiratory problems and fears of cholera and typhoid, especially for patients on admission at the nearby Muhammad Jidda General Hospital.
5. The steady overflowing of market and business activities into residential streets is making the serenity of Fagge area to give way to the proliferation of slums.
“A house is not a shop; a road is not a market. If this continues, Fagge will become a slum,” — Hajiya Aisha, concerned mother said. “We used to walk until midnight. Now we lock our doors by 9 PM,” she said.
Public frustration is directed at all the elected and appointed officials from the area. Malam Habu Imam, a long-time resident expressed concern. He asked, “now, where are the lawmakers and appointed government officials from this area? Are they really alive to their responsibilities? “It seems our representatives and local officials are asleep while our community is gradually being destroyed.” — Alhaji Manu Abubakar said.
Experts warn that converting residential areas into trading zones is creating fire risks, traffic chaos and health hazards. A Town Planner, TPC Mohammed Habeeb Fagge said: “Without political pressure, the Ministry will not act. Lawmakers and other government officials must therefore rise up and ensure laws are upheld.”
Fagge residents remain trapped in noise, traffic, and fear. Without appropriate action to halt the growing menace, the area faces the threat of degeneration into a chaotic slum,” the planning officer warned.
TPC Mohammed Habeeb warned that, “a city cannot develop when homes become markets and streets become parking lots. When this happens, Fagge will be at the risk of becoming a case study in planning failure and will soon drift into slums”.