Following drone photos of a Kano bridge I shot, and shared on social networks, a number of people have shared their views on the beauty of the bridge, and of course, criticism of the work and infrastructure itself. A number of Kanawa (Kano people) are still not happy about the Dangi 3-layer Interchange Flyover commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2021. Some say the flyovers are “clueless,” others “misplacement of priority,” and what have you.
Admittedly, I also was seeing the project as a ‘misplacement of priority’ when the government awarded the ₦4.5 billion project in 2018. NNPC roundabout, Eastern Bye Pass should have been a priority, I thought. To my surprise, the NNPC roundabout was later awarded. The work is still ongoing (photos on @misbahuelhamza).
Kano state as a megacity has a population of more than 13,000,000 people (as projected for 2016 by the NBS) and it’s expanding almost every day due mainly to local immigration. The resulting high increase in congestion in the city is obviously characterised by a rapid growth in demand that has overwhelmed our transport capacity. At this pace, Kano wouldn’t want to wait for another 8 or 16-years before it starts revisiting its master plan and thinking of what, and where’s “appropriate” for an efficient transportation system.
Unfortunately, thousands of people still do not have access to proper health, education, and housing in Kano state – which is a shared problem in almost all 30+ world’s megacities. But the congestion on most of our roads has also led to a significant decline in safety. Also, as far as we’ve congested vehicles spending more time in a place without moving, causing a delay in transport, we tend to have poor-to-terrible air quality that’s affecting our environment and the immediate people around. This is why controlling traffic congestion shouldn’t be a barrier to improving our health and education.
The argument that despite the flyovers, traffic congestion still impedes transportation within the city is partly true because of 2 – 3 reasons, I guess. One is that Kano state lacks enough public cars for commuting in most of its routes. This is, however, compensated by an increasing number of, and somewhat ‘unmanageable’ tricycles (Adaidaitas) on all routes of the state. The recent statewide strike of the tricycle drivers is enough to prove this point.
Marketers operating by the roadsides resisting control from authorities is also another impediment to decongesting traffic in Kano. Visit the Shahuci flyover commissioned Jan. 2020 which was meant to ease movement and link the Murtala Mohammed Hospital with its Emergency Unit on the opposite side of the road to see this.
In a mega-city like Kano, busy expanding its road networks, a very important component to reducing traffic and curbing accidents that are evidently missing is the pedestrian bridge. As at the time of writing this, I can recall one on Zaria Road and another two on Bayero University Kano (BUK) Roads. With the continued construction of flyovers and expansion of the roads, the crossing is becoming increasingly insufferable and risky. There’s not a single pedestrian bridge on the Eastern Bye Pass and Hadejia Roads and other main roads in the city.
As cities develop, more challenges evolve, and Kano can’t be different. The current governor of Kano state, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje was quoted as saying he commissioned a group of engineers to visit all the world capitals and came up with the design of one of the flyovers he built. That’s what developing countries do; they look up to industrialised nations to provide them with models. Some of the western models, however, may have limited value for meeting our transportation needs. And this is why I think our governments and experts must listen to the (learned) public in making decisions.
Also, while in their efforts to make Kano a functioning megacity, the public policymakers must ensure effective means of improving traffic flow quickly – which I suggest having more public cars instead of tricycles in Kano, the public must have a shared responsibility. Discipline would be a great start for us.
