By: Yushau Abdulwasiu
Abdullahi Muhammed, a 69-year-old mechanic in Fagge Local Government Area of Kano State, still holds the memory of a tragic attack on him one night in May 2023. The event caused a significant setback to his business and left a painful wound in his neck that still hurts.
He had joined weekly thrift contributions to aid his son’s education at a tertiary institution. In fulfilment of this, he requested his savings to settle his son’s school expenses after he gained admission to Bayero University Kano.
In an interview with UDEME, Mr Muhammed said he collected the money in the afternoon but when he was about to close his shop two men attacked him with weapons asking for the money he collected.
Mr Muhammed tried not to release the money but he was overcome by the men after being wounded and stabbed in the neck. He ended up in a nearby pharmacy for treatment.
The traumatic incident was the reason his son is yet to have the opportunity to further education as he deferred due to his family’s economic status.
In Fagge, one of the Local Governments in Kano State, commuters face regular threats of robbery at night owing to the absence of street lights on major roads.
The Residents’ Safety Cut Short
Following the horrible incidents residents have faced, Aminu Suleiman, the lawmaker representing the Fagge Constituency at the House of Representatives initiated a project titled “Provision of 3-in-1 Solar Street Lights in Fagge Federal Constituency, Kano State” to address the issue of insecurity and robbery in his communities.
However, the expected security was cut short as the installed solar street lights in March gradually stopped working from April till most of it were destroyed, leading to an increment of atrocity in the communities.
The project was awarded to Flintex Integrated Services Limited under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Information & Culture for N20 million. The solar street lights were installed in different areas such as Kramin Layi, Layi Audu waja, Layi Boola, and Layi Malo under the Fagge constituency.
Most of the installed fifteen 3-in-1 solar street lights have been destroyed.
Abbas Abubakar, a resident of Layi Boola told UDEME that, the street lights were truly installed but alleged that the items used were not original. “The rate at which it started destroying one after the other was very funny. I’m so disappointed in whosoever did it or facilitated the project,” he said.
“We thought the installation of the street lights has come to rescue us from criminality acts in our community not knowing it would later pave the way for the continuation of their nefarious behaviour,” he added.
Anas Mustapha, another resident of the Fagge constituency said thieves have dominated our community, and residents can no longer move freely at night again. He stated that residents have lost their phones to them and even injured at night due to the darkness.
“Those thieves are very smart and they are always with weapons, especially knives. There was one day when a man came to our area in the night looking for someone and he was calling the person before we knew they had collected his phone and also stabbed him.
“They are used to stabbing people before they collect their property and run so, that the person won’t be able to follow them,” he added.
Residents attempt at repairer failed
UDEME, who visited the project location in April and October, observed that the project in the community is still in the same condition.
Aminu Fagge, a community leader lamented over the unavailability of Hon Suleiman, saying that a series of letters had been written to reach him for a complaint unfortunately, no positive response was gotten as the robbery kept increasing day by day in night.
Mr Fagge further explained with great displeasure how a year-old street lights project was destroyed in no time.
“Out of the installed solar street lights in three areas in Fagge, it is only two remain working. Seriously, I’ve never seen such solar street lights in my life,” he added.
In a phone interview, Dan-Ayi Fagge, the lawmaker’s vice-secretary claimed that the community’s complaint reached them lately, adding that “we were also surprised how the streetlights that do not reach a year would destroy like that. However, as we received their complaint we tried to proffer a solution to it but no positive response yet.
“But now, we are no more in office again. Maybe the newly elected honourable will attend to the issue, I guess”, he added.
UDEME also reached out to the contractor through mail to ask why the solar street lights stopped working but got no response.
This report was produced under the UDEME project of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).
