Though I have not been in my surroundings in the last twenty years but I have asked my parents how our surroundings have changed from the past twenty years and they both told me their views, thank God for this prompt, it has urged me to make enquiries from my parents which I never did and I learnt a lot from what they told me.
Here in my surrounding specifically Uyo Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The have been a paradigm shift and a lot of things have changed from what the used to be, my once rural surrounding have transformed into an urban area. I will only talk about the infrastructural changes that has taken place in my surrounding.
1.GOOD AND ACCESSSIBLE ROADS: My surrounding which was a rural area before has improved because of good road network, my parents told me that 20 years ago the roads were so bad and was worse during rainy days, during rainy days due to the nature of the clay soil in the road whenever it rained everywhere will be so muddy and dirty. But now things have changed, my surroundings now have good and accessible road network that one could pass through comfortably.
Not only the good roads, drainages have been built to help control erosion and flood which do happen twenty years ago. We now have fly overs which has also help to control traffic in my surrounding.
2.TRANSPORTATION: twenty years ago the was nothing like airport, seaport etc but now in my surrounding we have an airport, that makes transportation very easy. My mum being a trader told me that whenever she wants to travel to some other state like Lagos, she will have to go to the park very early in the morning so she could join the bus, back then they had a long bus and everyone will join the bus but will get to their destination very late in the evening due to poor road network.
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But now things have changed, she can comfortably use the airplane at the airport to get to her destination quite on time. We now have seaports which aids trade, the seaport is now making trade easy because most of the imported goods and exported goods are moved via the sea.
3.UTILITY INFRASTRUCTURE: years back we lacked utilities like electricity, good water supply and sanitation. Twenty years ago the was nothing like electricity in my area, the people made use of lanterns, oil Lamps etc but now we have good electricity supply, alternative means of light generation like Solar, wind, hydroelectric power etc and life is now comfortable than before, virtually everyone in my area now have solar panel fixed to their rooftops which would generate light in the absence NEPA.
The is a good supply of water in my area unlike before when people had to trek miles away to the stream to fetch water, now everybody has water supply in their compounds while those that do not have could easily access it from their neighbourhood. Sanitation in my area has taken a new shape, we have good refuse and sewage disposal system and days are set aside to carry out sanitation in my area with strict supervision.
4.SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE: twenty years back, hospitals and schools were located far away but now we have not only hospitals but good healthcare facilities around us and it is very accessible. Education has greatly improved, my uncles used to trek to some other communities to go to school, but now there are both Government and private Schools everywhere, we have good Government schools which offers free education to people who cannot afford to go to private institutions. We also have good worship centres for worship. we also have stadiums for sports which wasn't in existence 20 years ago.
My surrounding have changed in diverse ways, the is a lot of development and it has changed from the rural setting to an urban setting. Despite the positive improvements there are also challenges that requires careful consideration, the include increase in population, pollution, deforestation and resource scarcity.
If we keep aiming high I believe we will attain greater heights and create a brighter future for generations to come in the next twenty years.
This post is in response to the mayinleo prompt
Thank you for reading.