In the article, Alex Preston paints the picture of displacement for the Gwari people, Abuja’s natural inhabitants, and says the capital is incomplete because of corrupt politicians.
Memorable quotes from include:
The skyline is dominated by the space-rocket spires of the National Christian Centre and the golden dome of the National Mosque, facing each other pugnaciously across a busy highway at the city’s centre. {pugnacious means eager or quick to fight} …
The skyscraper was intended to mark Abuja’s 20th birthday in 2011. Now delayed until who-knows-when, hugely over-budget and the subject of numerous official investigations.
All the people of Abuja have to show for the billions invested in the project are two stunted fingers of scaffold-clad concrete. I had been in Abuja for three days – about two-and-a-half too many- when my friend, Atta, a sociologist, picked me up from my hotel.
Atta told me that 65% of the houses in these developments were uninhabited, put up only to launder Abuja’s dirty money.
Like the Millennium Tower, these grandiose schemes are ruins before they are completed, bleak monuments to a city built by kleptocratic politicians on stolen land.
We pulled off the Murtala Mohammed Highway at Mpape Junction, and immediately the road deteriorated.”
The reporter also speaks to Gwari people, Frank and Mary in their thirties, whose parents were displaced in the forming of Abuja (a Gwari word),
“That is pseudo-Abuja, a false place. It’s unjust – we should be living in those houses. Instead…” He gestured to the squalid lean-to that jutted from the back of the bar.
Mary looked up from her chicken. “Life here is difficult,” she says.
Photo published in the article – captioned, “Many of the original owners of the land around Abuja are now living in poverty.” FYI: “Venal” means motivated by susceptibility to bribery.
The author’s personal bias was evident in some characterizations of the city – “charmless” is subjective, saying he had been in the city 3 days, “two and a half days too many”. While he made some good points – his witness of displacement and inadequate compensation of the Gwari people is definitely something that should continually be looked into.
What did you make of the article – the allegations of corruption, his imagery, is this characterization of Abuja too harsh or spot on?
Abuja people, is your city one of Africa’s “most charmless”? Let us know.
Written by By Alex Preston for BBC News
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