Navigating change: A 20-year journey
One thing that is constant in life is change and sometimes a change can be small but some other times it can be quite big. The city where I live has changed a lot over the past 20 years in terms of infrastructure but a lot of areas haven't changed that much and my immediate neighbourhood is one such area. I have been living in this neighbourhood since I was a child, and a couple of changes have happened over the years but I would say the changes happened very slowly, unlike some areas that experience rapid change in a short period.
The major thing I am very happy that has changed over the past 20 years is the main road in my neighbourhood. Before now, the main road wasn't tarred and it turns into a nightmare whenever it rains because of poorly-constructed drainage. You know what's even worse? There's a huge river nearby and the road slopes towards it, that's where all the flood water goes and some people have lost their lives during heavy flooding. Just one miscalculation and they've fallen into the open drainage with rapidly flowing water going straight to the river
Considering how heavy the floods were, you can't tell where the drainage is because they are completely covered by water. But now, the main road that leads to the river has been tarred and the open drainages are now closed, which fortunately also doubles as a walkway. It's funny when I remember that all these changes I just talked about happened in 2015 after the government suddenly remembered that such a neighbourhood exists. But it's just the main road and a few adjoining roads that have been tarred, many of them still look like the road to hell, having a close resemblance to the way they were 20 years ago.
the main road
Back when the road was just tarred, the government hired cleaners who always swept it every morning, making sure that sand didn't accumulate but they suddenly stopped doing that after a few years and from the picture above, you can see that sand has started to accumulate on the road. Fixing the main road brought rapid development to the area and it became a major transportation route. Before 2015, the road was a nightmare for vehicles and it was impossible to drive from one end of the road to the other. But now, public transport vehicles use the road as a major route to a nearby market.
I remember how I always had to take a 5-minute walk to a bus stop in another location just to catch a bus whenever I wanted to go anywhere within the city, but now I just step out of my house and can immediately get public transport to anywhere in the city. Aside from the main road, nothing much has changed over here for the past 20 years. Someone who left my neighbourhood 20 years ago can come back today and still recognize a lot of things except for some new houses and a guest house that's just opposite my house
Most of the houses here were built as far back as the '80s and '90s, and many of them are still looking the same way, just a few have been repainted or done some minor renovations. The good thing is that with the road now fixed, more small-scale businesses have opened up here and I can easily get most of the things I need daily without having to visit a market. There are now supermarkets, restaurants, bars, and a couple of schools. These things never existed 20 years ago, it would take a crazy person to site a school in this neighborhood back then, but now I can count up to 3 schools just a 2-minute walk from my house.
I am happy with the changes that have happened in my neighbourhood over the years, and the major highlight is the main road. Fixing the road opened doors to a lot of development in the area, although I sometimes wish that more development could be done here. I always remind myself that it's majorly a residential area and I shouldn't expect much but at least the adjoining roads should be fixed as well, most of them have been in a very bad state since I was a child, although some of them are motorable despite the bad state (like the one I showed earlier).
The commercial areas of my city have experienced rapid development over the years. I can't even recognize some of these areas after not visiting them for five years, as there are always new buildings being built or major renovations and restructuring being done. But despite that, I would say Benin City is one of the least developed cities in the country and can't be compared to big cities like Lagos, Portharcourt, Abuja and Kano, these cities have very beautiful infrastructures. But the good thing is that Benin is a quiet city with a normal-paced lifestyle, unlike Lagos which almost drove me crazy; everybody is always in a hurry. But still, I plan on leaving this city one day and going to somewhere better, maybe another city in a different country.
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