The squabbles over Jabi Lake Park

The uproar following FCT Minister Nyesom Wike’s decision to lease out the Jabi Lake area, a popular park, to private developers has yet to die down. The furore that followed its loss to the public must have stemmed from the fact that the park has been there for so long and, over the years, has […]

The uproar following FCT Minister Nyesom Wike’s decision to lease out the Jabi Lake area, a popular park, to private developers has yet to die down. The furore that followed its loss to the public must have stemmed from the fact that the park has been there for so long and, over the years, has attracted all and sundry primarily for recreational purposes. I have been a regular visitor to the park in the last six years, and I have found it to be one of the most exhilarating places to be in Abuja. I go there to walk along its well-paved footpaths, mostly in the evenings when the park is less crowded, in the company of many others.

You find joggers and runners, too. Some went for horse riding and others for five-a-side football. Part of the walking path was also a skating route, and you found yourself competing for space with children on high-speed roller skates. Though I have been a resident of Abuja for decades now, I only discovered the park by accident during the COVID days. Since my youth, I have been a regular squash player. However, over time, I was left stranded, having lost my playing partners due to advancing age and related factors. I now resort to regular walking exercise.

Millennium Park in the Maitama District is conveniently close, within a short driving distance of my residence, and I find myself using it all the time. COVID came, and the park was closed, but enquiries here and there turned up the good news that Jabi Lake Park had been left open.

I found the Jabi Lake Park a leveller of sorts. The crowd was a mishmash of the high and the low, the rich and the poor, all gathered there pursuing a motley of interests. On one of those days, I took one of my grandchildren to learn to skate there, and another took up horse riding. Jabi Lake Park was a great community centre, drawing crowds all day long and year-round. It was a sight to behold during public holidays. The park would be thronged by a multitude from all the strata of society, many coming from way out of the city centre. I normally avoided the park on those days.

For those of us who used the two parks, the difference was clear. While Millennium Park was meticulously cared for, Jabi Lake Park was utterly neglected.    The plants in Millennium Park are well-manicured, and the grass is well-watered. The place is well guarded, with security men constantly patrolling. On the other hand, the Jabi Lake Park has been left to the elements and has deteriorated. Without the presence of any authority, the park became a sort of no-man’s-land and was susceptible to infiltration by criminal elements. I guess that could be the reason why the FCT decided to deprive the public of its free use and turn it over to a developer who, from all indications, would build up the entire area.

Many of us had hoped that the FCT would fence the place, exercise some control over the space and develop it into a proper park in the mould of Millennium Park.

In this case, wishes became horses, consequently arousing plenty of anger. In the last few weeks, many public demonstrations have been held to pressure the FCT to change its mind. Perhaps the most poignant appeal that caught the public’s attention was the passionate plea by Sarah Omakwu, a popular pastor at the Family Worship Centre, Wuye.  She was seen in a widely circulated video kneeling at the altar, plaintively appealing to the FCT Minister to allow continued public use of the park.

Down on her knees, the pastor appealed, “I cannot fight the minister of the FCT. I cannot. But I go on my knees as a mother in this land that Jabi Lake Recreation Centre should not be given to anybody.  Jabi Lake Recreational Park is not just a location; it is a gift to the people of Abuja. A place of peace, connection, and joy. I humbly and passionately appeal to the Honourable Minister of the FCT, do not take this away from the people.’’

The minister chose to respond to her at a recent press conference, rejecting her plea in his usual combative, abrasive and condescending manner. He said, “You talked about a woman kneeling, begging. I do not get carried away by such emotions. Kneeling to do what?” Part of his reply includes some sacrilegious bravado that one would not deign to repeat.

It seems that the fate of Jabi Lake Park is sealed, but the storm it raised will linger. The FCT has come across as unfeeling and deaf to public opinion and concerns on this matter. It is left to those who cared and rose against this to gird their loins, as it seems more green areas of the FCT are up for grabs.