Maiduguri: A city without street names and numbers
Very few streets have names in the city. Very few houses have numbers and this makes it rather impossible to easily trace destinations without the need to rely on residents who may be equally ignorant of one’s destination. why maiduguri streets are not numbered Experts have attributed this phenomenon to many factors. Yahaya Lawan, the […]
Very few streets have names in the city. Very few houses have numbers and this makes it rather impossible to easily trace destinations without the need to rely on residents who may be equally ignorant of one’s destination.
why maiduguri streets are not numbered
Experts have attributed this phenomenon to many factors. Yahaya Lawan, the General Manager, Borno State Urban Development Board (BSUDB) said the antecedent of this problem was the document which was used in the implementation of the Land Use Decree in Maiduguri. “For example, we are talking about the Maiduguri Master Plan, which was prepared as far back as 1976 and became operational in 1977. The consultants who prepared the master plan recommended that such a board saddled with the responsibility of regulating and supervising urban development should be established to implement the Master Plan.
Unfortunately, over the years, such an agency never existed just like the same consultants’ recommendation that because of projected population and structural growth, the Master Plan be reviewed every five years was equally ignored by successive authorities. “The Master Plan which was supposed to work from 1977 to 1987 is now 23 years overdue for review. It means that the Master Plan should have been reviewed four or five times to take into cognizance social, economic, political, as well as physical dynamics”, added the Lawan.
Regrettably, the situation within the metropolis and its environs is pathetic. Areas that were hitherto reserved as agricultural land on the Master Plan are now residential areas. In addition, some residents do not seem to appreciate the importance of house numbering. House numbering and street naming is therefore regarded as a new phenomenon in Maiduguri.
Problem of illiteracy
One salient concern of stakeholders is the issue of literacy and the ability of the majority of the residents to read and understand the lingua franca. The GM of the state Urban and Planning Board says this had, indeed, contributed to the problem. He said, “The level at which people would understand, even when you write out the house number and the street names, going by their ability to read and understand the inscriptions is lacking. Therefore, that is a major factor why people do not know the importance of having street names and house numbers over the years. Now the problem has accumulated and become a huge problem that requires a lot of time and resources to be tackled.”
When inquiry was made about the solution to the problem, BSUDB said it was taking urgent steps to tackle the problem. According to them, the board was right now at the stage of working out logistics for the naming streets and numbering houses in partnership with private organisations. “We have to source for funds and get the materials ready. We also want to add some innovation so that the funding partner will benefit. It is going to be a revenue generation drive for the state government, in addition to street naming and numbering. As a public-private partnership, there would be some benefits on both ends. Government is going to generate revenue by way of doing the exercise. The financing private partner would benefit from advert placements on the street name signposts and house numbering (30cm x 60cm) plastic plates, which will be mounted on each street or pasted on the walls of houses,” he said.
The BSUDB says it is aware of the enormous importance of street naming and house numbering, especially for visitors because they are a good reference point, noting that if a visitor comes into town and wants to identify a place, it is very easy to locate when there are street names and house numbers. For instance it will be a Herculean task for somebody to locate someone who says he or she lives in Hausari, a business area in the city because it is a big place, saying there would be the need to identify which street, even when there is a house number.
Kanem Trust investigation revealed that sometime last year, government made approvals for the state Urban and Planning Board to go into public private partnership with a consultant to name the streets and number the houses within Maiduguri metropolis and the board is hoping that within the first quarter of 2010, the exercise would likely commence.
what residents say
Some residents, like Adam Ali Amsami, attributed the absence of street naming and house numbering to failures on the part of the political leaders in the state. “ Nigeria is a developing country and our leaders must begin to appreciate the concept of social organisation. When they travel outside the country or visit cities within Nigeria like Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna and Kano, they are happy with the way the settings are organised. Why don’t they replicate such arrangements for us here?” Amsami queried.
Amsami resides in Uniguest Street, an area located in Mairi Ward of Jere LGA which was named unofficially. He told Kanem Trust that he could not precisely say the number of his house because at the time when the house was built, there were few houses in the area, saying that only the old houses were named. He explained further: “If you start counting now, you find out that the house numbers are not serial. If I say my house is Number 30, you find out that the next house is without number. In most cases, rather than guide you, it becomes confusing.”
Mairi is a residential area where most students of the University of Maiduguri stay and these students come from all over Nigeria and even outside of Nigeria. Adam noted that if houses were numbered and streets named, the setting will become organised and become easy for parents or visitors to locate their wards and friends.
Kanem Trust gathered that one notable option is using mobile telephones to describe locations. But then, how reliable are the networks? Most a times, there is a network problem. At times, the battery is down or the phone is missing. One student remarked: “How do you expect a student with less than N50 credit on his phone to describe a place to someone on phone? It is not realistic. Before you finish the first sentence, the money on the phone is gone and then the person has to run to the public phone to make a call to the relative. But if we had a numbering and naming system, immediately you drop from the park and you take a ride on a motorcycle, you just tell the commercial motorcycle rider to take you to number 50 on a particular street. Even if the rider does not know the place, the street sign post and house numbers would be there for you the seeker to see.”
Tackling the problem, Adam feels, does not require huge financial commitment but goodwill on the part of political office holders.
how residents handle the situation
Kanem Trust observed that now, students of the University, who reside in Mairi have devised their own means of giving identity to their various out-campus hostels by naming the houses. On the walls of the buildings you see inscriptions in bold letterings based on the line of thinking of the resident students. There are inscriptions like Paris, Borikiri (only God knows what this means), Arsenal, King’s Palace, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and so on. These letterings are hand-written with paints or charcoal in bold regardless of whether the house walls are painted or not, thus defacing the outer part of the buildings, another avenue for causing disaffection between house owners and tenants.
One key problem associated with lack of street naming and house numberings is on emergency cases like fire incidents or robbery. Many have wondered: how can the institutions involved easily trace the points of distress calls from residents? Pinder Iza the public relations officer of Borno fire service told Kanem Trust that his organisation had since been faced with problems tracing fire distress calls or emergencies. “For instance, if a fire outbreak is reported in Gwange, the person that reports the outbreak is supposed to give details about the street and the house number but because there are no street names or house numbers, they would only report the fire incident and leave us to guess at the location by sighting the direction from which the smoke is coming from,” he lamented. “At one time, we continuously received phone calls from a minor in the government reserved area (GRA) to tell us that there was a fire outbreak. He was a child; we didn’t know his name, or his location. All we knew was that he was calling from the GRA. We then decided to go to the Nigeria Telecommunications (NITEL) who helped us to trace the call,” Iza recalled.
Iza also offered a piece of advice to residents on reporting fire incidences. “Fire incidences are reported using phone calls or running calls, where somebody would come and physically report a fire incidence. When you sight fire somewhere, the first thing to do is not to rush to the fire service station. The first thing to do is not to panic but try to and control it. Somebody would definitely come to report the case. You cannot leave fire razing down a structure and say you want to run to inform the fire service. What you do is to try to control the fire before the arrival of men of the fire service,” he said further. But the question that needs answering is: how many people have the knowledge on what to do when there is a fire incident?
duplication of street names
Kanem Trust observed that there are duplications of street names in some parts. For instance, there is a street in Bulumkutu, an outskirt of Maiduguri, which has three names. It is called Layin Shukura, Layin Dibal and Layin Mallam Ali. And because most of the names are given by residents, it is not recognised by constituted authorities.
At times, the civic responsibility of the police to protect lives and property is hindered by this factor. “The lives of our informants are at risk when they have to practically point at houses of suspects or physically accompany us to pin-point suspects. On the contrary, if houses were numbered and streets were properly named, all such informants need do is give the police the number of the house and the street name where the suspects are,” one undisclosed source said.
Even postal deliveries have been grossly affected by lack of street names and house numbers. Parcels that are addressed to organisations or individuals without postal mail box are the main headache. At times, offering courier services is often seen as ineffective and delayed because of the lack of proper categorization of houses and streets within the metropolis.
Kanem Trust also noticed that most of the popular roads in Maiduguri are named after towns that they lead to. There are the ones that lead to Baga, Damboa, Bama, Gamboru and Kano, Jos or Damaturu road, which also bears triple names, except for Sir Kashim Ibrahim, Ahmadu Bello, and Lagos. Absence of house numbering is not restricted to unplanned densely populated areas, but also the reserved areas.
Governor’s private residence not numbered?
One prominent example can be cited with the residence of the Executive Governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff who presently operates from his father’s house along Giwa Barracks on Gombole Road. Ironically, his residence is unnumbered, too, and can only be identified with an untidy Nigerian flag and the presence of heavily armed mobile police officers. And to cap it all, the problem is not only restricted to government structures but also to corporate organisations and the homes of wealthy individuals living in highbrow areas. They also do not seem to appreciate the value of house numbering and street naming. A question can thus be raised: If the residents of prominent personalities, corporate organisations and the government house are not numbered while their locations remain anonymous how then can the houses of commoners be easily traced, especially in moments of distress?