Mpape! Mpape!! Mpape!!! This is a regular call by conductors of commercial buses at the Berger Junction in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Mpape, a town surrounded by rocks, is a satellite settlement in Abuja, located at the eastern part of the capital city. It is about twenty minutes drive from the Berger junction in which commercial vehicles charge N50 per person going to the area.

Mpape, is one of the most populated satellite towns in Abuja in recent times, due to its proximity to the capital city. Its proximity to the capital city has attracted many residents of the FCT whose houses were affected by the demolition exercise embarked upon by the former FCT administration.

According to the Secretary to the District Head of Mpape, Mr. Yakubu Zaki Alladiya, said Mpape, a Gbagyi word means "we are crossing the river ahead of the war to the victory rock". He said the name Mpape was given as after the slavery war many years ago. The ruling system of the Mpape in by inheritance.

According to Alladiya, in the 1990s, Mpape was not populated at it is now. "But during the former FCT administration headed by Nasir el-Rufai, when there was demolition of illegal structures in many parts of the FCT, people gradually start coming to Mpape, and now it is highly developed", he added.

Social life in Mpape

Mpape is an epitome of a well civilized society, where people feel free to express and involve themselves in lawful activities. There are many locations and places where people gather to relax and socialize with each other in the town.

As one approaches Mpape, the first relaxation joint where one can relax and enjoy different kinds of delicacies and drinks is the Tiv joint. The place is called Tiv joint because most of the people selling there are of the Tiv ethnic group. Tiv joint is always lively in the evenings, when most people must have come back from their various businesses, hence they go there to eat and drink to ease the tension and stress accumulated during the day’s work.

As soon as it is 6pm, people begin to converge at the joint and sit in groups and order the kind of drinks they want. Other things found at the Tiv joint, according to a seller who gave her name is Jane are different kind of bush meat, fresh fish and paper soup. Adding glamour to the place are the beautiful Tiv girls who are always well dressed ready for any man that may be interested in them.

As one leaves the Tiv joint and moves toward the Mpape old market, there, he meets the oldest and most popular relaxation joint which is known as Extra Care Services.

According to the Director of Extra Care Services, Mrs. Victoria Godwin Antia, the business has been in existence since 11 years ago, and renders services ranging from food of all types, drinks (bar) and entertainment business in which the centre have installed a satellite dish where people come to watch both local and foreign football after paying a token amount. She continued that "Extra Care Services has become a household name in Mpape, as it is a meeting point for people coming to the town for the first time because of its popularity and location at the road side".

As for visitors who are coming to Mpape for one business or the other and have no place to spend the night, there a hotel where they can stay comfortably. As one move to the centre of the town, he gets to Mpape Transit Accommodation hotel, which is located directly opposite Berger gate.

The spokesman of the hotel Malam Issa Funsho Zubair, told Nigerian Newsday that the hotel was launched not long ago, has more than 20 rooms classified into executive and standard lodge. The spokesman said, the executive rooms cost N3,000, while the standard room cost N2,000 per day. He said there is provision for short time lodge for those who want to just take some rest and go back which cost N1,000 per hour. The hotel, apart from being furnished with air conditions and internet facility in the executive rooms, also has conference rooms and special rooms meant for those who want to have either tribal, towns or church meetings which they charge depending on the time the meeting will last .

Assessing the quality of the services rendered in the hotel, a customer by name Mike Udenwa said the services are comparable to any five star hotel in Abuja. He said "whenever I come to Abuja for business, I prefer to come to Mpape Transit Accommodation because the environment is quite, hospitable, adequate security and has a stand by generator for 24 hours.

Commercial and Religious activities

As one enters into Mpape, he first meets the Ansar Plaza which is housing a branch of Oceanic Bank located directly opposite the Mpape new market.

Mpape has two markets, the old and new market. The new one which is still under construction, is at the moment being used for business activities mostly on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

The secretary of the Mpape Market Association, Mr Celestine Ochanya, in a chat with Nigerian Newsday, said that Mpape market is a good place for business, considering that many people have relocated to the area due to the demolition exercise embarked upon by the Nasir el-Rufai administration, which make Mpape highly populated which in turn leads to higher patronage of the market. According to him "Mpape market is a good place for business, because we make a lot of sales and things are relatively cheap compared to other markets in the FCT."

Considering that Mpape is surrounded by rocks, some companies like Julius Berger, Crush Rock, Arab contractors and Setreco are situated in the town and involve in breaking the rocks into gravels used for roads and building construction.

On religious activities, Sundays are as busy as Fridays. Observers are of the view that, the population of Muslims is as large as that of Christians in Mpape. Close to the centre of the town near the old market is a big mosque and directly opposite the mosque at the other side of the road is Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA), and behind ECWA is another mosque.

On Fridays, starting from 1pm, one would observe Muslims running with their mats going for Friday prayers at the various mosques. In fact due to the high population of worshipers, others due to the fact that the mosque could cannot contain them, had to block part of the road and spread their mats on the ground in order to be part of the Friday prayers.

On a Sunday morning, Christians are seeing gorgeously dressed going to their various churches. Some Churches like Mountain of Fire and miracle ministries, The Lord’s Chosen and the many others that does not have branches in Mpape always send their vehicles to convey their members who live in Mpape every Sunday morning. Some of the churches found in Mpape are Baptist, Assemblies of God, Deeper Life, Redeem, Catholic and many others.

Security

Experts on security matters are of the opinion that Mpape is at a security risk because, it has only one entrance and exit road. The expert are of the view that, considering the frequent traffic hold-up in Mpape, if arm robbers are operating at one end of the road, it will be very difficult for the police to quickly reach that point because of traffic congestion.

Notwithstanding the security risk, Mpape have been described by many as the safest and most secured satellite settlement in the FCT. According to an elderly man and an opinion leader in Mpape who has lived in there for over 20 years, and does not want his name in print, says that, the police in Mpape are doing a good job. He said, even though the police in Mpape are under staffed, they are "doing very well in maintaining law and order in the area". "At least, the police in Mpape are supposed to be up 100 in number, to be able to spread in all the junctions and other hidden areas of the town to protect lives and property, considering that Mpape has developed geometrically in recent times due to the demolitions exercise that affected other satellite towns few years back." The elder therefore appeal to the police authorities to post not less than 100 police men to Mpape."

A cross-section of Mpape residents interviewed by Nigerian Newsday applauded the efforts of the present officer in charge of the Mpape police station for coordinating his men to ensure the protection of lives and property. "In fact, that officer is always with his boys controlling traffic in all the major junctions in Mpape, ensuring free flow of traffic. Even though the officer has not stayed here for long, we are feeling his impact, we can sleep with our eyes closed," a resident who does not what his name in print said.

Housing/Accommodation

The cost of houses in Mpape have skyrocketed in recent times as compared to few years ago. This is due to the demolition exercises that affected many satellite towns in Abuja.

The demolition exercise which affected many slums and satellite towns in Abuja, forced many people to rush to Mpape to secure accommodation. The influx of people into the area led to increase in cost of houses because the demand for the houses was more than the available ones. For example, a land lords who prefer to speak to Nigerian Newsday on the condition of anonymity, said 5 years ago, a standard room cost N1,200 per month, while a safe contain costs N2,500 per month; but now a room cost N3,000 while a safe contain cost N5,000 and above per month.

Problems

Bearing in mind that, there is no perfect society on earth. Mpape, though peaceful and safe has its own peculiar problems.

According to the Secretary to the District Head of Mpape, Mr. Yakubu Zaki Alladiya, one of the major problems bedeviling the area is the frequent traffic hold-up being experienced in the town. "This is because the road is narrow and is always causing accidents leading to hold-up", he added. Alladiya, therefore called on the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to dualise the Mpape road so that the traffic congestion would be a thing of the past.

There is also the problem of lack of portable water in the area. Alladiya said, Julius Berger company, as part of it social responsibility dug some boreholes in the town, but said that they were no more in use. He called on the government to provide Mpape with pipe bone water.

Another problem that is hindering industrial growth of the area is the near total absence of electricity supply to the area. The scribe to the District Head revealed to Nigerian Newsday that, Mpape, as large as the area is, it has only 3 electric transformers in which only two are in good working condition and hence appealed to the Bwari Area Council and the FCTA to provide the area with more transformers that can warrant constant power supply.

Alladiya, therefore called on residents and potential residents of Mpape to keep remaining peaceful, law abiding and continuing their businesses in accordance with the provision of the law.