A day in the life of the road amazons of Byazhin

Visitors to Ijayapi popularly known as Byazhin Across, a community in Kubwa, Bwari Area Council of the FCT have found themselves confronted by this spectacle.

When the road leading into their community in Byazhin Across, a Community in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) became inaccessible, 10 women decided to lead the efforts to fix it. Their hard work has created a motorable road and has seen them help deliver two babies on the road. This is the story of the Able Women, as they call themselves.

 

It is very unusual to see women standing by the roadside, collecting money to fix the roads in their neighbourhood.

Visitors to Ijayapi popularly known as Byazhin Across, a community in Kubwa, Bwari Area Council of the FCT have found themselves confronted by this spectacle.

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For residents of the area, it has become usual, after the men charged with the task dipped their hands in the coffers.

“These women started this work two years ago,” Mr Samuel Samuel, a resident, said. “As their name, Able Women, they showed us, the men in this community the way to properly achieve something,” he said.

Samuel narrated that the community had contributed money to fix the road in the area, which was causing many accidents, adding that after a while, the men under the auspices of Landlords Association could not account for the money, while the road worsened.

“A company came to help. They brought 10 heaps of sand and graded the road. People now contributed money and materials like cement to complete the work. Can you believe that men like me, couldn’t account for the money?” he said.

Angered by the lack of progress in the road repair, the women had taken over, Samuel narrated, and since then, the work has been moving well.

“The men that said they are Landlords Association are ashamed now. They came out to fight these women, but the women stood their ground. You need to see the type of erosion that was here before,” he said.

Nineteen women led by Khadijat Yunusa, the Chairlady and Bola Shitta, the Women leader, began the fight to rescue the road in 2019. As they passed through many hurdles and challenges, 15 of the women dropped off.

“The road was so bad. There were big potholes everywhere. Mothers and children were falling off bikes; some broke their hands and legs. Some died on this road,” Khadijat said as she tried to collect money from tricycle rider.

“We were about 19 women who started this project. We told the women that they should be ready for the difficulties that would arise from the project we were about to embark on,” she said.

After 15 of the initial 19 dropped off, they asked six other women from Byazhin community to join them. That was how the Ten Able Women came about.

“I am an Engineer. I specialise in supervising the work. I work on the site,” Khadijat who preferred to be called Angle 90 told Daily Trust.

Convincing people to part with their money has not an easy task. The task is so arduous that they return home with body pains.

“I have the passion for helping people even when I was young. I have always dreamt that the whole world will know me by my good deeds. I didn’t know how I will touch lives until we started this project,” Khadijat said.

Some people refuse to contribute. Others call them names, like “ashawo”

“God sees our heart and knows that we only have a passion for humanity,” she maintained.

The men they had replaced have not taken the change lightly, and have had the women arrested on three occasions because they wanted to know who authorised them.

“But the people fought for us. They told them that they are giving us N50, N100 and are seeing positive results while the men who had rolled out tickets of N1000 had none,” she said.

Every morning, around 6 am, the women arrive at their station and don’t leave for their homes or businesses until about 2 pm.

“Last year, we stayed from morning till night. A lot of us got seriously sick. We decided to change the routine this year.

“The Keke drivers pay N50 every day. Some of them are very stubborn. You just have to pet them and play with them. That is the only way we get our money. When we see that they don’t want to pay and they might disrupt the flow of traffic, we leave them. Other motorists give whatever they have but it must be more than N50.

“We have a specific colour of makers each day that we use to mark the Keke whose drivers have paid. We choose a particular number or alphabet as the mark, every day,” she explained.

Khadijat, who is a mother of five girls and a native of Edo, revealed that her husband had left her because she didn’t have a male child.

“I am a mother and father to my children. I am content and grateful to God,” she said.

The project has not interfered with her business as she has people who manage it when she is not around.

For Mummy Bola, 58, AKA Mama Kpomo, her kpomo(cowhide) business still thrives even with the road project as she finds time to prepare her meat to meet up with the demands.

“Our husbands are very happy with the work we are doing here. They do come here, greet us and even give us money to buy snacks and drinks. My children are all graduates. They are not with me. I wake up by 4 am, do my morning devotion, sweep and my husband know how to cook by himself,” the mother of three said with a smile.

She said the other women all have their businesses but still volunteer for this project.

Delivering a baby on the job

Sometimes traffic builds up on the road. The women help manage it.

Many a time, they have to ensure that people with emergencies find a way to reach their destination quickly.

On two occasions, they had to help deliver two children. Luckily, for them, they have nurses among them.

One of the nurses, Josephine Aba, narrated how she had to help a woman in labour.

“That day, I saw a man shouting that people should make way for his car. I didn’t know what the problem was. He shouted that his wife was in labour. I rushed to his car and I saw the woman crying. She was really in labour. I jumped into the car and told her to push. I had no hand glove and all. The baby came out safely, with no tears. He weighed 4.5kg,” she said.

The second child was delivered last year, both of them were boys.

Josephine who works at a hospital in Kubwa stated that she enjoys the work she and the women do.

“I am always here when I am off. This work is sweet. I am always happy whenever I am here because we are doing the work for humanity,” she said.

The Able Women revealed that they had no assistance from the government except the N50,000 that the chairman of the area council, John Gabawa, gave them last year.

However, they have had support from well-meaning Nigerians, organisations and churches in the area.

For now, the ten women, Bola Shitta (Women Leader), Yunusa Khadijat(Chairlady), Akeredolu Oluwakemi (Treasure), Idris Fauziyat(Secretary), Elias Esther, Cynthia Chukwuka, Jarose Obiahon, Idibia Josephine, Khadijat Kosoko and Mrs Ojo(Members) are happy to welcome other women into their fold. They are also happy to help other communities.

“Any community that wants us to help, we can do that because we are the Able Women. Our motor is together we build our community,” they said.

Mefor-Nwachukwu is a freelance journalist.