FCT DECISION TO IMPLEMENT PARKS REGULATIONS STIR CONTROVERSY

FCT DECISION TO IMPLEMENT PARKS REGULATIONS STIR CONTROVERSY
Neigbourhood parks in the FCT designed for relaxation and fun-seeking residents of the FCT have been turned into a rendezvous of anti-cultural and ignoble activities; move by the administration to check the excesses has been received with mixed feelings.As residence laud the move Park users opine otherwise
PATRICK OSADEBAMWEN
Hadize Abdulkadir had a health problem and consulted the experts for medication. Part of her physician’s advice was a cummulative-500-meters-walk per week. Hadiza a mother of four often goes out on the walk each evening in company of any of her four children. During one such walk, she was thirsty and tired. “This is normal”, she noted. At that point “I had need of something to drink, water or any soft drink”. Being within the premises of a neigbourhood park, Hadiza and her eldest daughter, Amina, a 16 year old girl stepped into the park. I thought we could just sit over some bottles of coke and water with Amina to quech my thirst and get refreshed”.
Upon entry, they were welcomed by a lady who immediately ushered them to a seat. But before they could sit down, the same lady reeled out the drinks available to her customers – Hadiza and Amina. “She said ‘we have Gulder, Star, Stout, Gordon Spark. What would yo want? She asked me. I was embarrassed.” Hadiza lamented. “Don’t you sell water and soft drinks?” she retorted. But her hostess response was to provide her a reason to run out of the park almost immediately. “The lady apologized and said ‘sorry madam, we have Coke and Fanta but look around the demand for beer is more.’ when she did looked around the park which at that time was yet to pick up. The view was distressing. People of all ages were smoking and drinking. More depressing was the scene of a table where young girls of her daughter’s age sat smoking and drinking alchohol beverage. The environment was not conducive for me to be with my daughter. My culture abhors the consumption of alcohols. I will be the last to expose my children to such environment.” The mother of four lamented.
Hadiza was distressed for the whole of the week. Her task as a mother has been further challenged. The challenge to ensure that the children grew up with strong attachment to cultural values will be difficult for her as the park was just a walk away from her home. The situation worsened with the fact that the park is by the road leading to the shop where the kids are often sent on errand for some immediate home needs. Such spot on the way her children take to run errands for her and the neighbours expose them unduly to the wild characters that have turned a recreational place for assortment of social ills.
She wondered why the FCT administration should encourage places for such anti moral and anti-cultural activities without the slightest adherence to age limit. “What I saw there that evening made me afraid for my children. I have three daughters! And the neighbourhood park is just by my house! She exclaimed. Where are we going with this kind of lifestyle when our female teenagers smoke in the open without any rebuke from even the men old enough to be their fathers? It is a shame!
Evelyn Adoba who sales in one of the parks argued that no body is compelled to come into the parks. They do so of their own volition. We are her to render services to them by selling the pepper soup, roasted fish, meat, and assorted drinks in return we earn money. “Those who need our services come here. We do not compel people to come in here and drink.” She insisted that all those who come to the park in the evenings are adult who have the ability to make choices. “They know what they want and they come for it,” Evelyn maintained.
Another resident of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, who is displeased with the activities of park operators is Lawrence Garba, a data analyst. He lives in the Wuse Zone 2. Few meters away from his home is a neighbourhood park. As a data analyst working with an NGO, his work schedule is very tight. After work, like any other worker who loves his family, he retires home to have some pleasant moment with them. He feels excited when he is going home into the warm embrace of his family. This desire is thwarted by these park operators, Garba quarried. The park serves as a rendezvous for many who seek to relax, escape boredom and have fun. Garba said “the activities of the park owners have been stretched too far. I cannot have a good evening with my family without the blaring noise they call music from the garden near my house. All they do every night is to disturb the quite me and my family deserve in our home.” Visibly raged, Garba said, “I paid heavily for that accommodation, yet I cannot experience a quite night. If the FCT wants to make money out of people in the name of privatizing parks, this is not the way to go about it, Garba quarried. He pointed out that in other parts of the world parks are melting point for cross cultural activities.
Isa Mohammed Shuaibu, Director General of Parks and Recreation Department agrees with Garba. He said in advance country the parks are truly the melting point of various people from diverse cultural background without clash on cultural values. All this has been over turned by the operational direction the parks operators have towed. They have turned recreational facilities into beer palours.
He advanced that a neighbourhood park is a place where little child of eight can walk into and buy ice cream or some other thing and if necessary play, then return home without any risk. However the present development cannot guarantee this. Park operators sell beer, play music with very loud speakers, constituting noise pollution to the neighbours. In some other cases there have been reports about drug peddling in the parks. These are anti cultural and undermine value for the people.
As a responsible government, the FCT administration has received many complaints from the diplomatic community and other residents on the abnormal use of the various neighbourhood parks. Sequel to this the administration has decided to revisit the true intent for which the parks were established and restore the right modus operandi. He reasoned that the government decision was in the best interest of the public for whose sake the parks were created by the government.