Residents of Bmuko, a community located off Bwari/Dutsen-Alhaji expressway in the FCT have cried out over the activities of expatriate quarry firms in the area who they allegedly are polluting their land and air.
The locals said the pollution had been affecting their health negatively.
The residents demanded the two firms operating in the community to construct their road which is also used by the companies to supply gravel to construction sites.
Abuja Metro reports that Bmuko, which is under Dutsen-Alhaji district, in Bwari Area Council of the FCT, is dominated by the Gbagyi.
Our reporter, who visited the community over the weekend, saw how the residents wore nose masks to avoid inhaling the dusts that is thick in the air, especially around shops and houses close to the road.
A resident, Alheri Audu, said the condition was affecting their children who could not manage the situation better.
He said most of them were always coughing, while the condition of asthmatic patients gets worse on a daily basis.
Another resident, Aliyu Abdullahi, said though the two firms sometimes wet the road using water tankers, such interventions hardly last beyond an hour before the road gets dusty again.
He maintained that the situation could only be arrested if the road is tarred with either concrete or asphalt.
In an interview with our reporter, the chairman of the Mines Transport Workers Association in the community, Comrade Ose Idasho, said the dusty condition affects their members too, wondering why the two firms could not come together to construct the road.
Speaking about the level of stone mining in the community, Idasho said one of the firms could supply about 300 trucks with gravel in a day.
He said one of them is a Chinese firm that didn’t recognise weekends or public holidays and operated from 7am to 6pm.
The other firm was formally owned by an indigenous company before being acquired by a Turkish firm, Idasho added.
Malam Ibrahim Yahaya Dangana, who is the village head of the community, said they have lived in the area for about two centuries when their forefathers migrated from Zaria in Kaduna State.
He said the source of livelihood of his Gbagyi people, which include faming, rearing animals, hunting and fishing are all being threatened by the developments being witnessed in the FCT without corresponding compensation.
“Government would always allocate our farmlands with no replacement; and develop the layout, without including our people in the plot allocation scheme. How do they expect our incoming population to own accommodation?’’ the chief queried?
Reacting to the issue of the alleged environmental pollution against the mining firms, Malam Dangana said the complaints and requests presented to them in the past demanding the construction of drainage and to tar the road in question, were not successful.
“Their excuse was that they are paying tax to the Federal Inland Revenue, Royalty to the Ministry of Mines, as well as tenement rents to Bwari Area Council.
“They argued that if the government would give them a waiver for a certain time, they could use the fund to fix the road.”
The chief called on the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to intervene by resolving the matter.
Efforts by our reporter to speak to the management of the firms were not successful, as security men at the gate didn’t grant him access into the premises during the visit.
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