Karsana’s Toxic Time Bomb: An Epidemic Waiting To Explode

While many Nigerians are doing everything within their power to maintain good health, residents of Sow Residences Estate in Karasana continue to grapple with a mounting environmental crisis. In this expose,  IGHO OYOYO uncovers how toxic smoke, illegal dumpsites, and deteriorating living conditions have created a public health emergency that demands urgent government intervention.

In the heart of Abuja’s rapidly developing Karasana District, an environmental catastrophe is quietly unfolding behind the walls of Sow Residences Estate.

What should have been a peaceful suburban community has become a prison, not one of concrete or steel, but of mountains of decomposing waste that grow taller by the day. The air is thick with toxic smoke, the stench of illegal dumpsites permeates the streets, and residents live under the constant shadow of a public health crisis that seems to worsen with each passing moment.

Every evening, as the sun sets over the FCT, a different kind of darkness descends on Sow Residences Estate. The illegal dumpsites that encircle the community like a besieging army are set ablaze, sending plumes of toxic smoke that roll through the neighbourhood like a poisonous fog, choking the air and forcing residents to flee indoors.”

Residents retreat indoors, sealing windows and doors, gasping for clean air in their own homes. This is not a temporary inconvenience. This is a public health emergency in slow motion, an epidemic waiting to explode.

Sow Residences Estate: The Long-Suffering Community Choked By Waste , Toxic Smoke

Residents have long been worried about their deteriorating environment and have repeatedly raised the alarm, pleading for urgent intervention.

A concerned resident of the estate, Chief Mike Okpere, has witnessed the crisis unfold over nearly a decade. His voice carries the weariness of a man who has seen promises made and broken, and who has watched his once-desirable neighbourhood deteriorate into a public health hazard.

Speaking on the issue, he said, ‘Over the past six or seven years, many people from Kubwa and the surrounding areas have turned Karasana into a dumping ground. They think nobody is watching.’”

The timing of the crisis is particularly cruel. As the government moved forward with ambitious development projects, including President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Estate, bringing 3,000 new houses to the area, the dumping continued unabated.

“Whilst properties of the estates were developed all around, sometime after this new government came into power, and the president decided to create the 3,000 houses in the estate on that Karasana room, the dumping of refuse continued until the road was made,” Okpere recalled.

According to him, when construction finally began, there was a brief moment of hope. The FCT Minister awarded a contract, and workers cleared nearly all the refuse that had accumulated along the path of the new road. But for the residents of Sow Residences Estate, hope remains a fleeting commodity

“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,” Okpere said.

The problem,” he noted, “is twofold: one, it is unsightly and horrible; and two, there is the health hazard from all the air pollution surrounding where people live.

He said that despite reaching out to the FCT administration, residents have seen little action from the appropriate authority.

“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.

‘We Move Out With Face Masks’

When contacted, the chairman of Sow Residences Estate, Mr. Tunji Ilesanmi, has become the reluctant face of this battle, spending his days writing letters, visiting government agencies, and confronting an enemy that grows with every passing truck.

He said, “Some companies and the Baban-bolas have turned our environment into illegal dump sites. We have been making efforts. We have written letters to the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) and visited numerous offices because of the challenges we are facing.”

“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.

“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.

“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,” he said.

Ilesanmi’s voice dropped with exhaustion saying that presently, they don’t know what to do again, that they are tired of the situation.

The chairman of the Estate said that what residents face is not random dumping by isolated individuals, that it is an organised operation with hierarchy, territory, and enforcement.

“We have been telling them to go to approved designated dumpsites, not behind our fence. But they do not want to listen. They have even built barriers behind our fence.

“They have so many beats, about eight different beats, that each one has a chairman controlling the beat. In the morning, when they are coming, they come in large numbers. Mostly the Baban-Bolas, they are up to 100 to 200 of them. They will be pushing their refuse truck to dump here.

“There was an occasion I stopped them from dumping refuse, but they refused. But how many can I stop? How many of them can I stop?” he said.

The health consequences are already manifesting. Community health workers have warned that the approaching rainy season could transform an environmental nuisance into a full-blown medical emergency.

When the burning stops, the rotting begins, and with it, the risk of cholera, typhoid, and other waterborne diseases skyrockets.

Ilesanmi dreads the seasonal shift. “It will now be another kind of air pollution, with foul smells everywhere in the estate.”

Some residents have already made the painful decision to abandon their homes. “Some people who have moved out. Because of this refuse around the estate,” Ilesanmi said.

When The Ground Shakes:

As if the airborne assault were not enough, residents must also contend with the ground trembling beneath them. Illegal rock blasting at a nearby site has turned their homes into potential death traps.

The Estate chairman’s description is chilling, “Another one that is very terrible is the stone rock blasting. I wish they would blast one when you are here to see the impact on the buildings.

“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.

“Yesterday we went there to caution them that they should find another place for their mining. I know and I am sure that what they are doing is illegal. Because those places where they are mining are supposed to be recreation centres, because they are waterways.

“We have also seen signs of effect. In fact, one of their workers got wounded just two days ago. We learned they had to cut off his foot,” he said.

The structural integrity of nearby buildings is at risk. “When the blasting happens, it shakes very well down to the foundation. And I’m sure very soon the effect will start showing, which is really bad.”

Ilesanmi adds, with grim gratitude, “I thank God that the building is strong. Otherwise, you would have seen cracks. Presently, we don’t even know what to do again. We are tired of this situation,” he said.

Mohammed Ibrahim, financial secretary of Sow Residences Development Association, revealed an even more alarming dimension: the transformation of a waterway into an informal settlement that enables the dumping.

“We have a waterway behind our estate, and the Baban-bola people have already turned that place to their house. They are building shanties there, on the waterway.

“The number of shanties is actually increasing by the day. I think they started from one or two. When they cleared the dumpsite behind Step One during the road construction, they moved to behind our estate,” he said.

This encroachment brings not only environmental hazards but security threats.

“These illegal shanties are becoming harmful for criminals. We actually don’t know who is there, and it’s a threat to us. We don’t sleep at night because you don’t know those that have erected illegal shanties behind your fence.

“If someone will just come from nowhere and build his shanties behind your house and be sleeping here, you cannot go and see what the person is doing,” Ibrahim said.

The Evening Ritual of Suffering

For the residents of Sow Estate, each evening brings the same agonising routine, which Ibrahim described the daily ordeal, “If you come to this place in the evening, you can never breathe properly.

“Every evening, we have to go inside and lock our windows and our doors, and put on the AC before you can breathe very well. And if there is no light, you have to leave this place because you cannot continue to stay in this estate.

“We are calling for the FCT minister to actually help us by instructing the relevant agency to immediately clear all the illegal dumpsites around our estate and arrest and prosecute all these offending waste collectors. And dismantle these illegal shanties,” he said.

Ibrahim speaks for a community that cannot sleep, cannot breathe, and cannot rely on the authorities meant to protect them.

“We don’t sleep at night because you don’t know those that have erected illegal shanties behind your fence. If someone will just come from nowhere and build his shanties behind your house and be sleeping here, you cannot go and see what the person is doing,” he said.

The Irony of Development

Perhaps the cruelest aspect of the crisis is its timing. As the government pours resources into making Karasana a showpiece of urban development, complete with presidential visits and media coverage, Sow Residences Estate chokes in obscurity just metres away.

“We have seen laudable and very well-publicised efforts that the government is doing to make Karasana a mega city. We have seen the effort of Mr. President.

“I think when Mr. President was commissioning the Renewed Hope Estate, he had to even come to Karasana. So with this, we have seen the project.

“The road construction is going on. But now, these Baban-bola people are actually negating the effort of the president and the honourable FCT Minister,” Ibrahim said.

Also, Suleiman Isah, secretary general of Sow Residences, confirmed the organised nature of the operation, saying that, “We found up to 200 in a day, 300 Baban-bola. And we also have pictures of trucks.

“They are coming here, and it’s illegal. It’s so surprising that people could just pick an area that’s under serious development and try to turn those areas into dumping sites.

“Even now, there are still large dumps by the site of the newly constructed road. So who is going to clear those dump sites? It is already high, and daily they still increase the volume. I’m afraid that that dump site could make this area not habitable. And that would be very bad,” he said.

A Fortress Under Siege

The geography of Sow Estate has become its curse, unlike other communities that might border a dumpsite on one side, Sow Residences Estate is virtually encircled.

Isah explained the strategic shift that followed the road construction, saying, “Before the construction of this road here, which is leading to the government’s Renewed Hope estate, a very large dump site was cleared from the road.

“It was illegal right from beginning. But it was cleared because of the road. But what they did was they moved to these sides. So that is now between the first estate there, Step One, and Sow Estate. There is also another route leading towards the western side.”

The result is a community under environmental siege from multiple directions.

“The burning of the refuse has become very regular. And we have already seen the effects. It has been affecting our children and those of us who are elderly,” he said.

The contrast could not be more glaring: a gleaming new housing project inaugurated by the president, surrounded by festering garbage heaps that poison existing communities.

Isah notes the government’s apparent interest in the area’s development. “As you can see, there are lots of estates around here. The whole of the area and the road constructions going around.

“I think government has interest to really develop the Karasana area. Which they are doing very well. So lots of houses will be affected if this continues.”

Appeals to Power: A Community’s Last Hope

With local channels exhausted, residents are now looking directly to FCT minister, Nyesom Wike as Ilesanmi appealed to him to come to their.

“We want to appeal to the Honourable Minister. He is one of the active ministers we have in the country today. He’s doing a good work. But anybody that is passing through this place must see this place as it is.

“So he should please, because of the health of people here, do something by evacuating this refuse and direct the necessary agencies that should come, move away this refuse, and do something that would not allow these people to dump anything in this place.

“And give instruction as regards this blasting. Before it becomes a serious problem. It would have caused a serious problem, because we wanted to engage the vigilante groups to carry them.

“But then with the police at the point, if they are not hearing that there is a problem around here, without any concrete solution from the minister and other agencies, another problem will erupt with the government.

“We are still planning to pay a visit, not just write. We want to visit all the relevant agencies, the Environmental Protection Board, the Satellite Towns Development Agency. We also want to visit the police.

“What we are thinking is that if we could find a way of first of all blocking those who are still coming daily. I am afraid that that dump site could make this area not habitable,” he said.

The Coming Explosion

As residents wait for official intervention, the dumpsites grow. The smoke continues to billow. The ground continues to shake. And the health of an entire community hangs in the balance.

The epidemic is waiting to explode. The only question that remains is whether anyone in authority will act before it does, or whether Sow Residences Estate will become another cautionary tale of development’s dark side, a community sacrificed to the toxic byproducts of progress.

As one resident put it, with the weary resignation of the truly powerless, “So this is my observation. This is the situation.”

What Must Be Done

The residents of Sow Estate are not asking for charity, they are asking for enforcement of existing laws. They are asking for the same government that builds gleaming new estates to protect those who already live in the shadow of those developments.

Specifically, they demand the immediate evacuation of all illegal dumpsites surrounding Sow Estate. Arrest and prosecution of waste collectors who continue to dump illegally

The dismantling of the illegal shanties erected on the waterway, cessation of illegal rock blasting that threatens lives and property, and the establishment of proper, legal dumpsites in Kubwa to prevent future encroachment

The FCT minister has shown himself capable of decisive action, and the residents of Sow Estate are calling on him to turn that attention to their community before the epidemic they fear becomes a catastrophe they cannot survive.