Lugbe: FCT community roads in disrepair

For residents of Lugbe, a sprawling community along the airport road corridor in Abuja, daily commuting has become frustrating. Once envisioned as one of the model Federal Housing Authority (FHA) estates in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the area now tells a different story – one of potholes, clogged drains, dust and despair. Each rainfall […]

For residents of Lugbe, a sprawling community along the airport road corridor in Abuja, daily commuting has become frustrating. Once envisioned as one of the model Federal Housing Authority (FHA) estates in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the area now tells a different story – one of potholes, clogged drains, dust and despair.

Each rainfall season deepens the scars on the major access roads that connect thousands of residents to the city centre. Motorists navigate the cratered terrain cautiously, while pedestrians trudge through muddy puddles that collect after every downpour.

Ifeanyi Victor Kachukwu, an engineer who has lived in Lugbe since 2012 said, “Each time an election comes, politicians appear with one promise or another, but after the election they disappear.

“We have been abandoned for too long. The road is terrible. Bikes fall and cars crash. It is now part of our daily life.”

Lugbe, originally developed under the Federal Housing Authority’s supervision, has grown into one of Abuja’s busiest residential hubs, home to civil servants, traders, artisans and private professionals.

According to residents, despite the steady rise in population and property values, infrastructure has deteriorated steadily.

Friday Moses, a commercial driver said, “Everywhere in Lugbe, there’s no road you can say was fixed by the FHA. We pay our dues every year, yet we don’t see what the money is used for. The bad roads delay us, cause traffic and even accidents. Sometimes, people fall off bikes because of potholes.”

During peak hours, gridlock stretches from the FHA Junction through Aco Estate Road down to the Police Signboard area, with commuters spending hours on routes that should take less than 10 minutes.

 

Population boom

Lugbe’s population boom has outpaced infrastructural expansion. Over the years, residential homes have been converted into commercial properties and plazas.  And without proper planning or drainage upgrades, erosion has turned many roads into gullies.

“If you go out when it rains, you can’t drive through some parts. “The water just flows into houses because the drainages are blocked. We are begging the authorities to come and help us,” Kachukwu said.

Transportation is also a daily nightmare as motorcyclists and cab drivers compete for space on narrow, broken lanes, often causing avoidable accidents.

“Sometimes you just park your car and take a bike. A short distance that should cost N200 now goes for N500 because the road is bad,” a resident who identified himself as Eze explained.

 

Years of neglect despite rising revenue

Residents told Weekend Trust that they pay various levies and rates to the FHA and the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) but little or nothing has been done to improve infrastructure in the community.

“The FHA and AMAC collect revenue from us every year. They charge extra when you convert your home to a shop, yet the gutters are blocked, the roads are gone and no one cares. We spend a lot of money repairing our vehicles every three months. If these roads were fixed, Lugbe would be better than Gwarimpa. We are close to the airport and the city but we live like we are forgotten,” Mr Epanya Eze, who has lived in Lugbe for over two decades said, adding that the dilapidated condition of roads in the community also triggers high transport fares and rising house rents.

 

FHA responds

In response to residents’ concerns, Ibrahim Kalgo, the programme manager at the Federal Housing Authority site office in Lugbe, said maintenance work in the estate was carried out periodically.

Kalgo said, “Maintenance is done annually. We go around street sides and carry out repairs. This place was worked on last year.”

He, however, acknowledged that the rapid expansion of Lugbe and the pressure on infrastructure often make it difficult to sustain the repairs for long.

 “The population keeps increasing and some residents carry out unapproved modifications that affect drainage and road structure,” he noted.

 

FHA’s responsibility

Established in 1973 by Decree 40, the Federal Housing Authority is Nigeria’s foremost housing agency mandated to acquire, construct and maintain federal housing estates nationwide. Its role extends beyond building houses to include providing basic infrastructure, such as roads, drainage systems and water supply.

Documents from the FHA show that the authority acquired 200 hectares of land in Lugbe for a mixed-use housing development, including residential and commercial facilities. However, despite collecting maintenance fees and development levies, there is little visible evidence of infrastructural upkeep.

In 2015, the FHA announced a restructuring that created a facility management subsidiary responsible for maintaining estates like Lugbe, Gwarimpa and Maitama. The idea was to ensure that housing projects were complemented by quality roads and drainage systems. But a decade later, residents say maintenance has remained only on paper.

“It is hard to understand how the FHA can keep collecting fees while the access roads are impassable. They said there’s a maintenance department, but we haven’t seen any maintenance here, not even grading,” Mrs Mary Agbo, a businesswoman in FHA Phase 2 said.

 

Government’s silence despite outcries

Despite numerous complaints and petitions, residents said both the FHA and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) had remained unresponsive.

“We are not asking for too much. Even if we don’t get other benefits, at least we should have good roads to move around,” Kachukwu further said, pleading with the FCT minister, Nyesom Wike to intervene.

 One of the residents of the community also said, ‘’There has been serious debate on whether AMAC, the FCTA or FHA should be held responsible for the neglect. What the residents want is for the roads to be fixed irrespective of which agency owns it.’’

Urban planning experts argue that the situation reflects deeper issues of accountability and mismanagement within FHA’s estate operations.

“The FHA was meant to be a model of organised housing, but many of its estates now mirror the same neglect found in informal settlements,” said Jude Onuorah, a town planner who specialises in Abuja housing policy.

“When residents pay maintenance fees, they expect tangible results in roads, clean drainages and a livable environment,” he said.

 

A call for action

For now, residents of Lugbe have continued to battle poor roads, waterlogged streets and dust storms in dry seasons. As the FCTA rolls out its urban renewal plans, Lugbe residents are hoping that they would not be left behind again.

“We have been patient for too long. We are not asking for miracles, just roads we can drive on without fear. Let the FHA remember that people live here too,” Friday Moses said.