ENDANGERED: How Abuja residents endure air and noise pollution from quarry

If you are plying the long stretch of Karu-Karshi road in the federal capital territory (FCT) in the evening, when you approach the popular Navy Estate Junction, there is a high probability you will be asked to stop and hold on with your commute to enable Masarki Nigeria Limited to blast rocks at its quarry site.

The activities of the company, which started operating in the area in August 2019, have become a nightmare for residents and commuters. Quarry operations at its site, located not far from the road, steadily pollute the area with dust and noise.

During several visits to the company site, TheCable reporter observed how the dust from the excavation spreads through the environment, contaminating the air in the area.

Some of the residents, shop owners and commuters who spoke to TheCable said in addition to the noise from heavy rock blasting at the site — usually loud even from across the main road — they have had health-related issues like catarrh as a result of exposure to the pollution.

AIR POLLUTION FORCES RESIDENTS TO WEAR FACE MASK

A businesswoman identified as Mama Blessing runs a kiosk which is located at the other side of the road opposite the company’s site. She told TheCable she and her children have since resorted to wearing face masks as a result of the pollution — even long before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The challenge we are facing is the dust, especially towards evening. Now, when the breeze is down, it goes the other way. But when it is evening, you see the dust entering your nose. What we use is a face mask,” she told TheCable as she struggled to restrain her one-year-old daughter from jumping from a chair.

“All this place, if a car is coming, you have to turn on the light because the thing covered everywhere until the sprayed water before it subsided. That day, you will just see yourself turn white.”

When the company blasted rock — done with explosives — about two weeks ago, she made a mistake which caused her catarrh, endangering her three children, the two others aged three and nine.

“I didn’t cover myself and the following day, I started having catarrh. The dust affected my health because that day’s own (blasting) was something else. I don’t know how they did it,” she recalled.

“It is not good at all. Sometimes they put water but that day, they just left it and it continued to spread and filled everywhere.”

Her nine-year-old daughter cut in, saying she has in her mother’s bag, her face mask which she and her siblings wear mainly to protect themselves from the dust — and not just from COVID-19.

“We get dust from here but we use to wear a face mask,” the girl named Blessing said, adding: “When the dust normally come, if I am talking, catarrh used to block my nose.”

A resident of the area identified as Nasir Ibrahim said the air pollution is worse during the dry season as there are no rains.

“The dust disturbs us; as the dry season is approaching now, the dust will start spreading. It has not been spreading much, that would be when the weather is dry and no moisture in the air,” he said. And when asked if they have taken any action in response, he wondered who they would run to for assistance.

“Wetin we go do about am? You go report, no be the same people wey we report to na them dey… why will I be reporting? All they (the police and regulatory agencies) want is money,” he added.

‘VIOLATING THE LAW AND OWN PRINCIPLES’

Established in 1994, Masarki Nigeria Limited has become a household name in mining and quarry operations in Nigeria. The company, of which current director is Abdulkadir Maman, according to filings at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), claims that one of its core operating principles is “environmentally sound practices”.

But in carrying out excavation and blasting of minerals, the company’s operations appear to violate its own principles and even the provisions of the 2007 minerals and mining Act.

Section 118 of the Act states: “Every holder of a mineral title under this act shall as far as reasonably practicable, minimise, manage and mitigate any environmental impact resulting from activities carried out under this act.”

The Act also demands that an environmental impact assessment must be carried out on mining and quarrying sites to ensure that mining-related activities are environmentally friendly and do not endanger the lives of the residents.  

However, residents of the host community where the Masarki quarry site is located in Karshi have accepted the sad reality of constant air and noise pollution.

“We are already used to that one, if they do, they will stop,” said a shop owner in the area who declined to give her name. 

“The dust usually comes to this direction in the evening,” she added, pointing towards the side of the road where her shop and that of the others are located opposite the quarry site.

“If they want to blast, we all will leave. Once they are set, they will come and block the road (and) no movement again. When they are done, we will come back. We are already used to it.”

QUARRY ACTIVITIES AND DANGERS OF AIR POLLUTION

A 2017 study published in the Federal University Oye Ekiti (FUOYE) Journal of Engineering and Technology explained the environmental impacts of quarry operations and their likely implications. 

The study reads: “The drilling operation requires the use of heavy machines which emits gases that are harmful to the environment … in addition, explosives are used to blast the large rocks to aid excavation of the area where granite is extracted. 

“The blasting operation produces air blast and the vibrations that affect the people within the surrounding communities’ a lot. The vibration and air blast produced causes buildings of the indigenes to have cracks and buildings that are very close to the quarries suffer much from breaking of glasses and other glasswares in their homes. 

“Moreover, the resulting blasting operation in this area is sometimes accompanied with the incomplete detonation of the explosives which causes the release of some toxic gases to the atmosphere and hence pollutes the environment. 

“Added to these events is the issue of flying rocks being experienced by the residents when the rocks fly and travel beyond the expected and anticipated limit. Flying rock and failure to secure the blasting area dominate blasting-related accidents in mining.”

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), nine out of 10 people globally breathe air that exceeds the recommended guideline limits containing high levels of pollutants, resulting in an estimated seven million deaths from air pollution every year.

What is more? The WHO said that ambient air pollution — from outdoor activities like mining — accounts for an estimated 4.2 million of such deaths due to stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and chronic respiratory diseases.

RESPONSE FROM GOVERNMENT 

Although the Mining Cadastre Office confirmed the company has a valid licence to operate, front desk officer at the agency said the ministry of mines and steel development is responsible for enforcing regulations guiding the mining sector while their duty is to issue licence to qualified applicants.

Officials of the ministry and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) said they are willing to act on any evidence that Masarki Nigeria Limited is polluting the air at its quarry site, even as the police were not available for comments.

But for the residents, the little efforts they have made to complain to the relevant authorities including police officers working with the company have been futile.

“Police dey follow them come when they wan blast (rock). Shebi them dey give them money, them dey collect,” a trader in the area who asked not to be named for fear of retribution said. “They don pay for the human beings so wetin again? Na money na im them dey find.”