IN AND AROUND

THE STREET LIGHTS OF ABUJA CITY ARE GONE

I took a walk through the ever busy Ademola Adetokunbo Street of Wuse 2 in Abuja and I couldn’t help but notice that something was different. So, I had to take a second walk, only this time it was a more conscious one. “What was different?” I asked myself. The Clubs, bars, restaurants were still there, same as the banks, even the famous Amigos was there. So what was missing? Then it hit me- The Street lights.

By now one would be asking what was so special about these street lights that I had to write about, well, these ones were different. For the benefit of those that do not know, street lights are those long metal pole-like things with bulbs at the top that light up the street. A walk through these streets and one would not miss them even if he was asleep. These street lights came in different colours, shades, shapes and sizes, yes, you read correctly “shapes and sizes.” The called out to you when you passed by (I meant it literally) and on Saturdays’ and Fridays? Ha, the shone the brightest.

The bigger or more recent your car was the brighter the shone, all you had to do was park in front of them and you could actually take one of them home (yes o, for this Abuja our street lights na advanced technology) for a token fee. My friend Sly after long hours at night in the office would take a walk to feed his eyes on them and by the time he was done, he had so much energy to work. So, you see, our street lights also provided “energy” (Redbull wouldn’t work such magic)

“Hey handsome” the would call out and boy were the attractive. What was your pick? Heavy front side? Intimidating back side?  A mixture of both? Yellow or black? We had them all and we never complained. They lithe up the streets of Abuja, made 20 kilometres seem like two and amused us. They were like flowers; they made our streets more beautiful and emitted lovely fragrances (call them night flowers).

Like we say, “a good thing never lasts forever” the appointment of the new minister of F.C.T brought an end to our beloved street lights. Now, the streets of Abuja are dark, lonely and sad. That usual glow they had is no more, our street lights are gone. It feels like walking through a graveyard at night, my friend Sly can’t work that long no more, his energy providers are gone. Mr. Minister, on behave of the good people of F.C.T. especially the night crawlers, we need our street lights back.