A group of women, known as “Able Women” in Byazhin-Across, a community in Kubwa, a suburb of Abuja, has taken up the repair of an access road to their community abandoned by the government.
The access road leading to the community has been in a bad state, causing accidents for the residents.
A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent, who spoke with some of the women, reports that Byazhin-Across is a suburb in the Bwari Area Council.
Khadijat Kosoko, a member of the group, said the project started in 2019, as an act of love for the society and humanity.
“Seeing how pregnant women were having miscarriages, students falling from bikes, made us come up with an idea to help the community fix the deplorable road.”
“We started with filling potholes, a man saw us and offered to help, with financial assistance, so we decided to fix the whole road, using cement, stones and sand.
”So we blocked the road temporarily and asked for assistance from motorists and passersby.
”We collected N30, N50 and N100 daily from motorists, to support the road construction.
“The amount of money we got in a day was surprising. So with what we were able to gather, the work commenced in earnest,” she said.
Rose Obeahon, a school proprietress and a member of the group, said in spite of the fund raised by blocking the road, funding the project was not easy, adding that they were grateful to some generous residents.
“A man was driving out one day, stopped by and asked us how much we needed at the moment, We told him N50,000; he immediately gave us part of the money.”
“Some churches and business owners in the area have also been very supportive,” she said.
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Mrs Obeahon said that the women workforce sell tickets of N50 daily to road users on the road, to raise funds for the next road construction.
“When we don’t have enough funds from the road users, we take from our personal purses to also assist in the work,” she said.
Bola Shitta, a.k.a Mama Kpomo, the leader of the group, said they had experienced countless challenges, from being cheated, to some people refusing to contribute and others insulting and calling them all sorts of names.
Mrs Shitta, however, commended the women, stating that they all had been hardworking and diligent.
”They all have respectable jobs but decided to volunteer for this project.
“By the grace of God, if the government does not intervene or assist us, we will keep on doing the good work. We will go beyond this place and take the project further,” she concluded.
(NAN)
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