SOCIAL AMENITIES IN ZARIA TOWN (ROADS)

• The role of roads as effective channels of communication, which is necessary for the Birni to discharge, its function can best be appreciated when seen against Gideon Sjorberg’s view about the city. He saw the city as: Mechanism by which society’s rulers consolidate and maintain their powers, and more important, the essentiality of a well developed power structure for the formation and perpetuation of urban centres…But invariably they were the focal points of transport and communication, enabling the ruling elements not only to maintain surveillance over the countryside but to interact more readily with members of their own group in other cities as well as within a city. The congestion that defines the city increases personal face-to-face communication therein; essential if the heads of the various bureaucratic structures- governmental, religious and educational were to sustain one another. Thus to ensure effective communication and accessibility to the various parts of the Birni each gate has a road linking it to the focal points of the Birni. These were the Palace, Mosque, and Market. Network of major roads and paths also radiate out ward from the gates, Palace, Mosque and central Market to the outlying wards of the Birni. See map for insights into how the roads and the paths integrated the various parts of the Birni with one another effectively.
• It was these major roads and paths that constituted the major directional forces particularly in the densely populated areas of the Birni. According to Lawal the major roads and paths were not laid out but evolved from footpaths. This was because they meander between the clusters of compounds at various points along their courses. Series of winding paths usually branched off from the major routes and thus constituted a secondary circulation system.
• The constructions of roads and paths during the pre-colonial period were done through three major ways. One of such ways was through constant passage by people through a particular route.
• Secondly, nomadic often stick to specific routes as they took their livestock for pasture. Consequently, through constant passage along a route a path may emerge. The third way was when the Sarakuna deliberately decided to create a route to a particular place or section of the Birni. In such occasion people were normally mobilized for the work. The roads were usually constructed under the supervision of Tafarki (road foreman). Tafarki was a traditional title and it literally means road/paths. The Tafarki was responsible for making sure that the roads/paths were in good condition particularly when the Sarki was about to go through them on his way on official duties or tours.