Lack of electricity, good roads limit business in Igu

Lack of electricity supply and good roads has been identified among factors limiting business activities in Igu, a community in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).  Some of the residents said the availability of electricity and good roads would open up the community for business activities while several business people in the […]

Lack of electricity supply and good roads has been identified among factors limiting business activities in Igu, a community in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
 Some of the residents said the availability of electricity and good roads would open up the community for business activities while several business people in the community would spend less money powering generators.
Abubakar Sadiq, a furniture maker in the community, said due to the  lack of electricity in the community, he could not make use of some necessary tools that could boost his business.
 Sadiq said his inability to use some power tools had reduced his patronage as people prefer patronising furniture makers in neighbouring communities.
 He said some of his drilling tools needed electricity; hence the lack of it in the community had denied him the opportunity to make good use of his equipment.
 He said several appeals to the government to complete the abandoned power project in the community had not yielded positive results.
 Another resident, Muktar Abubakar, said the bad road to the community complemented the lack of power supply in discouraging people and business people from operating in the community.
 Muktar, a commercial motorcyclist said plying the road during the rainy season was very difficult, adding that the road has been left uncompleted since 2012.
 He said the road usually got slippery during the rainy season, thus making it tougher for motorcycles and vehicles to come into the community. He said due to the rough terrain, motorcyclists increased fares from N250 to N400.
“We dey suffer for here,” Muktar said in Pidgin English, explaining that the residents of the community go through hard times.
  Residents who spoke to our reporter said there was the need for government to revisit the abandoned electricity and road projects in the community.