“I no dey carry anybody wey get bag and I no dey go all those Wuse side.” (*I don’t carry passengers with bags and I don’t ply Wuse) These are the exact words of an Abuja taxi driver. Asked if he’d take us to Nyanya, his answer was very emphatic, ‘Argh! I no dey go Nyanya o. Nyanya? Go do wetin?’ (*I don’t go to Nyanya. Nyanya? To go and do what?) Two nights before, I had visited my favourite shawarma joint on Aminu Kano Crescent and immediately noticed something was missing. Within seconds, it dawned on me: the usual crowd that thronged the joint had become a handful of people. I often patronize the joint after midnight but unlike previous nights, I didn’t have to wait to be served because there was no queue. This was the fastest time it took the men in charge to serve my friend and me. Unlike times past, there was no crowd waiting to be called to come have their prepared shawarma. The numbers had taken a plunge!
My friend runs a human resource company in Abuja. She lost two staff members in a week. One of them got a call from her parents saying they needed her to leave Abuja for her safety, the other tendered her resignation to the boss because she no longer ‘felt safe’ in the city.
Clubs have seen their numbers reduce drastically and other points of leisure have suffered the same fate. Having explored the city over the last three nights, I can safely conclude that the terrorist attacks have taken a toll on the Federal Capital Territory. God forbid, another attack would amount to a fatal punch for small and medium scale businesses in Abuja.
As at three nights ago, the bombed EMAB Plaza had police presence and tapes, while the construction of what would be anti-bomb concrete columns seemed abandoned for the night. The columns themselves have now become a permanent feature of most government and private buildings in the city centre. One of the consequences of previous terrorist attacks.
An expatriate client required her staff members to close early days ago while also excusing them for the next two days. Everyone in the city expects a bomb to go off somewhere in the city. The fear is so palpable it is scary.
The cost of terrorism is a lot more than the billions of Naira that go into defence spending, it is much more about direct costs to the lives of citizens. Students that must change schools to avoid being kidnapped, their parents that now accommodate the reality of less turnovers because of reduced human traffic to the shops and business places.
Our authorities are doing their best but they must understand that that best can be better. If anything, Abuja cannot afford to be bombed again anytime soon. Citizens must help the authorities by reporting suspicious movements and persons. By now we must all know that our security is our collective responsibility.
The best time to know a city that works is after midnight because every city pretends to work in the day. That explains why this piece is not about what happens in the day. Needless to say, the cost of terrorism affects the day as much as the night but this is a war Nigeria can win and Nigeria, through its leaders must indeed defeat terrorism. We can win this war, first we must understand the cost of this war, pay attention to the effective distribution of resources and genuinely commit to making terrorism a thing of the past as soon as possible. Easier said than done. But it is not impossible.
My friend runs a human resource company in Abuja. She lost two staff members in a week. One of them got a call from her parents saying they needed her to leave Abuja for her safety, the other tendered her resignation to the boss because she no longer ‘felt safe’ in the city.
Clubs have seen their numbers reduce drastically and other points of leisure have suffered the same fate. Having explored the city over the last three nights, I can safely conclude that the terrorist attacks have taken a toll on the Federal Capital Territory. God forbid, another attack would amount to a fatal punch for small and medium scale businesses in Abuja.
As at three nights ago, the bombed EMAB Plaza had police presence and tapes, while the construction of what would be anti-bomb concrete columns seemed abandoned for the night. The columns themselves have now become a permanent feature of most government and private buildings in the city centre. One of the consequences of previous terrorist attacks.
An expatriate client required her staff members to close early days ago while also excusing them for the next two days. Everyone in the city expects a bomb to go off somewhere in the city. The fear is so palpable it is scary.
The cost of terrorism is a lot more than the billions of Naira that go into defence spending, it is much more about direct costs to the lives of citizens. Students that must change schools to avoid being kidnapped, their parents that now accommodate the reality of less turnovers because of reduced human traffic to the shops and business places.
Our authorities are doing their best but they must understand that that best can be better. If anything, Abuja cannot afford to be bombed again anytime soon. Citizens must help the authorities by reporting suspicious movements and persons. By now we must all know that our security is our collective responsibility.
The best time to know a city that works is after midnight because every city pretends to work in the day. That explains why this piece is not about what happens in the day. Needless to say, the cost of terrorism affects the day as much as the night but this is a war Nigeria can win and Nigeria, through its leaders must indeed defeat terrorism. We can win this war, first we must understand the cost of this war, pay attention to the effective distribution of resources and genuinely commit to making terrorism a thing of the past as soon as possible. Easier said than done. But it is not impossible.
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