Karasana Residents Urge Wike To Close Illegal Dumps, Halt Rock Blasting

Residents of Sow Residence Estate in the Karasana District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have appealed to FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, to shut down illegal dumpsites that have turned their community into an environmental hazard zone, and to halt to dangerous rock blasting activities threatening lives and property in the estate.

In emotional pleas, community leaders described how their estate has become surrounded by mountains of refuse like a fortress, with waste collectors setting the dumps ablaze every evening, releasing toxic smoke that forces residents to flee indoors or wear face masks just to breathe.

Chief Mike Okpere, a long-time resident of Sow Residences Estate, traced the crisis back nearly seven years, revealing how the problem has persisted despite government interventions.

“Over the past six, seven years, a lot of people around Kubwa and the environs turned the Karasana area into a refuse zone,” he said.

According to Okpere, there was a brief moment of hope when the FCT minister awarded a contract to clear refuse during the construction of a road leading to the government’s Renewed Hope Estate. However, the relief was short-lived.

“But recently what we have found out is that these people have started again dumping all across the place, leaving the road that is being done. They have taken over all the areas, and every evening they put it on fire.

“And everybody living in that area will inhale all of the smoke. It is a health hazard. One, it is unsightly, it is horrible. And then the health hazard for having all the air pollution around where people live,” he said.

He revealed that despite reaching out to the FCT administration, enforcement has been lacking.

“We have reached out to the FCT administration and we have the understanding that they have told people not to go there to dump refuse. But people still continue. There is no arrest. So people just take liberty, they can do as they wish,” he said.

Chairman of Sow Residence Estate, Tunji Ilesanmi, painted a grim picture of daily life for the approximately 200 families living in the community.

“Some companies and the Baban-Bolas have turned our environment into illegal dump sites. We have been making effort. We have written a letter to Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB). We have gone to so many places because of this challenge we are facing,” he said.

Ilesanmi disclosed that authorities admitted lacking resources to address the problem, even suggesting residents should mobilise funds, a proposal he rejected outright.

“Their problem is that they don’t have funds to implement the control of dumping refuse in this area. There was a time that they advised that if we can mobilise them. But for us to mobilise those people for many months? It should be government responsibility,” he said.

The health impact, he said, has already forced some families to abandon their homes. “Because of this refuse around the estate, some people have moved out. It is only in the evening that you will understand what we are passing through here.

“So many people, when they are moving, they move out with their face mask. Anybody that is asthmatic cannot stay here in the evening. Because when they are burning the refuse, the smoke will occupy the whole of this estate,” he said.

With the rainy season approaching, Ilesanmi warned of a different but equally dangerous threat.

“We know that during raining season the burning might stop. Because they will not be able to burn the refuse again. It will now be another kind of air pollution, with foul smells everywhere in the estate. Presently, we don’t even know what to do again. We are tired of this situation,” he said.

Compounding the environmental nightmare is the threat of illegal rock blasting at a nearby site, which Ilesanmi said has already caused damage to buildings and injury to workers.

“When they were constructing that road, the portion was blasted there. Rock flew all the way from that place to hit one building here. It broke the roof, broke the ceiling, that is the POP, and landed on the decking. It was only God that saved that nobody was around then,” he said.