SPECIAL REPORT: Abuja residents bear the brunt of poorly regulated quarrying companies

On 29 November, the JSS 3 students at Graceland High School in Baupma Dutse, Abuja, were writing their third-term examination when a flying rock crashed through the classroom roof during blasting at a quarry company. Thirteen-year-old Chisom Ibekwem was among 11 children and two teachers injured by splinters of the rock.

“We were writing our second paper, Social Studies, and everybody was scared. I felt pain in my left hand. When I turned my face, I saw my colleague bleeding and shouting,” she told PREMIUM TIMES.

“Usually, when they blast, the whole class vibrates, and the fans shake. There was a day when we were in basic science class, and we asked whether it could affect us. But the teacher said no. Now they have proven her wrong,” Chisom added.

Jewel Samuel, a teacher in the school, was struck on the head by a pebble.

“When I saw the other teacher bleeding, I became scared. It could have been me,” Ms Samuel said.

The school was shut for three days after the incident, while NESREA reportedly sealed up Cornerstone, the quarry operators, after the school incident.

However, three days later, when PREMIUM TIMES visited the company’s site, it had reopened.

The incident was a disaster waiting to happen, the result of years of unaddressed issues in the area.

Residents of Baupma Bmuko, Dutse, had expressed frustration with the activities of Cornerstone quarry. They complained about constant rock blasting, property damage, air pollution posing health risks, reckless driving by truck drivers, and road damage caused by the company.

“Look at my solar panel, it is a new one, the second time I am buying it. I bought this one for N1.150 million after the first one was damaged by rock blasting,” Oluwabunmi Adegoke, a businesswoman and resident of Bmuko, said.

Mrs Adegoke recalled how her grandmother cut short her visit because she could not stand the noise from Cornerstone’s operations.

“My husband repairs our house, the POP and others, every year,” she added.

She stated that the November incident that injured students also affected other community residents.

“Many shops were damaged, including my own. A man told us that a rock crashed into his house while he was sleeping and landed on his bed,” she added.

Apart from Cornerstone Quarry, owned by a Turkish company, Istanbul Quarry & Concrete Ltd, another firm, Venus Quarry, owned by a Chinese, also operates in Dutse.

There are dozens of quarry sites in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Over four months, PREMIUM TIMES visited three communities and three quarry sites in different parts of the territory. We discovered a similar pattern of hazardous practices and unregulated activities at the quarries.

In ACO, an Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) estate in Lugbe, a quarry site operated by a Chinese company, Dai Jin Investment Limited, has been accused of destroying properties since it commenced operations years ago.

According to information available on NG-Check, an online platform that gathers information about Nigerian companies, business addresses, owners, and others, Dai Jin was incorporated in Abuja and registered on 24 November 2011.

Many residents said they had settled in the estate long before the company started operating there. Besides, commuters complained that blasting with heavy dynamite or explosive devices has wreaked havoc on their health and buildings.

“I have lived in this house for over 10 years, and I think this started like six years ago. I have had to fix my POP on several occasions. My family is traumatised,” J Jikeme, a retired major general, who lives less than a kilometre from the site, told PREMIUM TIMES.

“We complained to the police and took the company to court, but all to no avail. The dynamite they use is out of specification. Most of us here are retirees; we used our benefits to build our houses.”

Another resident, Jacob Edi, said his property, including electronics, had been damaged many times.

“Look at this crack, (point at the cracks on the wall inside his duplex). This is another one. This POP is compromised. There is heavy leakage from here, so after every rainy season, you have to renovate.

“I have changed the television sets twice. This chandelier here, we just replaced it too,” Mr Edi told this newspaper.

For Henry Njoku, a former commissioner of police, a vibration nearly killed his four-month-old twins.

“A blast threw out my twin from the bed; they had to grab the children and run out,” he said.

Zeberced Limited Quarry has been operating in Kubwa, in the Bwari Area Council of Abuja, for the past five years.

“We are used to the sound, but the vibration is damaging the foundation of our houses,” Adewumi Kolawole, a resident of Arab Road, Kubwa, said, complaining about quarry activities in the area.

Bad roads, common ‘enemy’

The roads in the area are mostly unpaved, and dust billows from heavy-duty trucks plying the roads day and night.

“The drivers are also reckless; most of the time speeding and honking. They have knocked people down on several occasions,” Nkem Okeke, the public relations officer (PRO) of ACO Estate, said.

“You have to use a nose mask every time,” John Adewale, a civil servant, said. “If you don’t, you get catarrh and cough, which sometimes leads to malaria.

“I live very close to the quarry site. Whenever they are blasting, the whole building shakes as if the world is coming to an end.”

“The trucks are killing our people on this road. Just last week, they crushed some people standing beside the road,” Ms Adegoke recounted.

Residents fleeing

Many residents are reportedly moving out of areas close to the quarry sites.

“I know five families who have moved out of this area because of the dust. Today they wet the road because of a protest by residents,” Ms Adegoke further narrated.

Licencing and regulations

The National Environmental (Quarrying and Blasting Operations) Regulations, 2013, state in Section 22(1) that blasting should not cause discomfort or nuisance to the public or residents within 1,000 metres (1 km) from the epicentre of the site or road users.

Quarries must conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before operation, undergo audits every three years, ensure blasting is at least three kilometres from any buildings, use a maximum explosive limit of 35 kg per charge and three tons per blast, and provide effective community warnings, such as sirens or a 48-hour notice before blasting.

These are the conditions necessary to obtain a licence from the agency and the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development.

The regulations also aim to prevent and minimise air and noise pollution, with specific limits for ground vibration and air blast at sensitive sites.

However, this newspaper found that the quarries are mainly located within a kilometre of residential areas.

Companies keep mum

Officials of Istanbul Quarry and Zeberced were reluctant to speak with our reporters about their companies’ operations.

Ibrahim Yahaya, a manager at Istanbul Quarry, who answered our call, refused to grant an interview. An email and phone calls were made to Zeberced via contacts obtained from its website, but they went unanswered.

When PREMIUM TIMES visited Dai Jin last year, a Chinese scaler named Chris referred us to a supervisor named John, but did not provide any contact information or explain how to reach him.

Government speaks

In a 2024 Pulitzer Centre publication, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, stated that while quarry companies are expected to maintain a safe distance from communities, urban development often brings people closer to their sites, resulting in proximity that exceeds permissible limits.

Mr Alake said before operational licences are granted, environmental impact assessments are conducted, “which involves conducting baseline studies of the environment of the virgin land, ecological studies, water and soil samples evaluation, assessment of the vegetation, amongst others.”

He, however, said the industries are responsible for any damage to people’s property.

The spokesperson of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Abubakar Liman, declined to comment when contacted and instead referred us to his director or the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.

Lere Olayinka, the minister’s spokesperson, did not respond to calls or WhatsApp messages.

Several reports, no solution

In the past three years, there have been several reports of life-threatening incidents, property destruction, and others, caused by the unchecked activities of quarries in the FCT.

A 2024 report by CrossRiver Watch revealed how a quarry blast disrupted a community in Mpape, triggering an earth tremor.

Similarly, on 14 May 2025, The Nation Newspaper reported on how quarrying in the FCT endangers commuters’ lives.

READ ALSO: Abuja Estate residents demand halt to rock blasting by Chinese quarry company

PREMIUM TIMES also discovered that the FCT authority’s negligence has continued to fuel the gross violations of regulations by the stone industries.

Nigeria Mining Sector

The economic contribution of quarries and mining in general may be the reason authorities are reluctant to act.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, aggregate production of mineral products in Nigeria in 2021 grew by 39.19 per cent, from 64.29 million tonnes in 2020 to 89.48 million tonnes, indicating an improvement in production. Limestone, Granite, and Laterite were the three most mined minerals in 2021.

Additionally, the Mining and Quarrying sector contributed approximately ₦1.56 trillion to the nation’s GDP between Q3 2023 and Q2 2024. The sector’s total contribution to GDP stood at 0.77 per cent in 2023.

Similarly, the Solid Minerals Development Fund stated that Nigeria’s mining sector has 44 types of commercially viable minerals worth an estimated $700 billion, but limited capital injections, inadequate geospatial mapping tools, and widespread illegal mining have left the country struggling to capitalise on its reserves.

Furthermore, reports indicate that many of the areas where these industries operate are facing major environmental issues due to poor practices and inadequate enforcement of regulations.