Caboose

Last year’s census is still causing arguments here, with all sorts of wild claims flying around. One of the big problems has been the announcement that Kano state has a slightly larger population than Lagos state, when obviously there are more people in Lagos!

Chippla’s Weblog has a very sensible post on this subject, pointing out the difference in population density between the two states.

Quite apart from the organisational problems of the census, one of the major difficulties seems to have been the tendency for people to travel back to be counted in their hometowns. In some cases this was being organised and promoted by ethnic organisations, to ensure that their numbers would be high and to increase their share of Federal jobs and money. So cities with large non-indigenous populations emptied around census time and, as a result, will have been undercounted and will probably be under-resourced in future.

It’s good to see that the BBC has finally noticed the reality of Abuja rather than just following the official line about how shiny and modern the city is.

The contrast between the city centre and the “satellite towns” is amazing, from multi-lane expressways to dirt roads in a few hundred metres. Most people working in Abuja can’t afford to live in the city, having to commute in every day. Some of my former colleagues at Radio Nigeria travelled in from as far away as Keffi because that was the nearest place they could afford a decent home for their families. This isn’t easy or cheap given the lack of good public transport.

Although the FCDA claim to be enforcing the “master plan” they seem to be doing so in a way that ignores the idea of building neighbourhoods and providing housing for all levels of society. So long as your mansion is in a residential area and isn’t built on what should be a park it doesn’t matter that there should be tens of houses in the space you’re taking up for one.

On a technical note, the link to Google’s map of Keffi shows that their idea of where Abuja is is a bit wrong and some of the roads and place names are slightly suspect too.

Last night I joined Monique, Kristel and Marion at Gamji Gate Auditorium for a free concert organised by the British Council and the Centre for Hausa Cultural Studies. They’d brought over a Muslim hip-hop group from the UK, Mecca 2 Medina, who were collaborating with a group of young traditional Hausa musicians from Kano, Arewa. The whole thing was called “Cultural Rap Rapture” and also included several local musicians.
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