Mpape is located in Bwari local government of Nigeria’s federal capital territory.
Despite the apparent tranquility, residents of the area live with lingering uncertainty. Just weeks before this report, inhabitants of Mpape and Katampe, a neighboring district within Mpape, experienced a terrifying ordeal.
Unexpected vibrations and a deafening explosion-like sound shook the ground beneath their feet, sending shockwaves of fear through the community.
According to the Nigeria Geological Survey Agency, in a statement by its Director General, Professor Olusegun Ige, approximately 48 separate earthquakes were recorded with intensity and frequency increasing between September 13 and 16.
SaharaReporters visited the scene of the earth tremor in Mpape to hear stories of the people affected by these incidents and the dangers they pose for Nigeria's capital territory.
Olabisi Ayodele, a resident of Mpape, told SaharaReporters that she was in the house with her kids and husband when the tremor started.
“We were all scared, and did not have anyone to run to because everyone did not really understand what was transpiring. My kids kept shouting ‘Mummy, Mummy’and here I was helpless,” she narrated
Her family’s experience is not in isolation. She told our reporter how her brother who stays close to Mpape had to leave home with his wife and only child immediately the tremor started.
“My brother, his wife and child had to leave home immediately the tremor started, they drove out and have not returned home since then,” she told SaharaReporters.
Another respondent told SaharaReporters that the tremor made her house shake.
“Our house started shaking and you could feel the tremor, even under you, you cannot predict the next thing that will happen,” she said.
A trader in Mpape who identified himself as Shehu told SaharaReporters that they thought it was a bombexplosion.
“The tremor came with a loud explosion; we thought it was even a bomb blast because no one does blasting close to us again so we did not expect such tremo,r” he told our correspondent, urging that the source of the tremor should be investigated.
“Please, you should help us understand what is happening because as you are seeing us all here, we are living in fear, no one has told us what is exactly happening,” he said.
SaharaReporters' investigation uncovered that rock blasting previously occurred at "CrushRock" in Mpape. However, locals disclosed that operations ceased several years ago due to an unexpected environmental incident - a massive surge of water suddenly gushed forth from the mining site.
A local, Mujeeb Yusuf, who works in one of the popular motor parks at Mpape market told SaharaReporters: “They mined and blasted rocks till a time that water just came out of nowhere and the mining site became a large river. The government then told them to stop.”
Multiple locals confirmed this story, detailing how the activities in the mining site caused environmental degradations until the government stopped them.
“You see this water was not here but imagine how much mining they did for water to spring up,” he said.
SaharaReporters also found out that some lives have been lost in the bed of water left behind from the mining activities.
“My brother died inside this ‘river’ because you know it used to be a place surrounded by rocks and one day he went to urinate close to the ‘river,’ just for him to slip and fall into the place. You need to see the cries of people that day,” he said.
Many other locals who spoke to SaharaReporters blamed the remnants of the impact of the activities that happened at Crushrock for the earth tremors.
SaharaReporters visited Durumi in Mpape and reports that despite the impact of mining following the Crushrock incident, mining has continued on a massive scale.
Although the government has made many assurances, residents told SaharaReporters that it was not the first time they would experience such a tremor. They narrated their experiences in 2018, when there was a tremor, leading to apprehension among the people between September 5 and 7.
At Katampe junction area, some of the residents blamed the mining activities in Dutse, also under Mpape for the tremor.
SaharaReporters visited Dutse to speak to residents.
Mary Chukwu, a local resident, shared her harrowing experience with SaharaReporters, revealing the devastating impact of mining operations in the area.
"The mining activities cause cracks in our home's walls and intense vibrations, especially when rock blasting is imminent," she said. "It's a constant source of anxiety and fear for us."
“When you see the kind of mining going on, you will realize the danger we are in. Whenever there is blasting, we usually experience serious vibrations of the building land. Even our children are exposed to loud noise which is not too good for their health,” she added.
Multiple residents reported ongoing rock blasting in smaller sections of Mpape, potentially exacerbating the tremors. However, due to security concerns, SaharaReporters was unable to access the affected sites.
Environmental expert Yemisi Awe attributed the earth tremors to unregulated mining activities. According to her, the unchecked blasting and drilling have severely damaged the land's structural integrity.
Awe further emphasized that the sudden surge of water at mining sites, as witnessed in Mpape, indicates extensive damage to the land's formation.
She described it as a clear sign of the devastating consequences of uncontrolled mining.
“Mining is a major issue that leads to such a situation, especially unregulated mining and mining that is carried out in an artisanal way,” she noted.
She told SaharaReporters that such activities can destroy the environmental formation of the location and expose them to lots of harm.
“Because of the exposition to mining activities, the physical soil formation of the area can be destroyed which degrades the land,” she said.
She noted that tremors, if allowed to coexist with other issues such as deforestation, leads to more dangerous calamities.
The National Environmental Quarry and Blasting Operations Regulations (2013) notes that mining activities have effects on environmental and public safety.
According to details on Part 2, No. 13 of the law, noise pollution shall not exceed the acceptable limit of 114dB set out in the National Environmental Noise Standards and Control Regulations.
The law also emphasises that mining companies’ activities should not affect houses within 1000 metres of their operations, which Mpape residents say the mining activities in their area clearly violate.
In its reaction, the federal government denied that the tremor in Mpape was in anyway related to earthquake.
The Director-General of the National Space Research and Development Agency, Dr Matthew Adepoju, in a press conference made this reference.
“It has not reached the stage of panic yet. We want to assure the people of Mpape and Abuja that the earth tremors we experienced are not the type that can cause earthquakes. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide regular updates,” he said.
The Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Geoffrey Nnaji, said “all efforts are being made to avert any disaster.”
Mpape experienced a similar sequence of earth tremors from September 5 to 7, 2018, which drew significant local and international attention to Nigeria’s increasing seismic activity. The recent tremors were accompanied by loud noises and ground shaking, causing widespread apprehension among the residents of Mpape.
“In response, the government is currently processing and analysing comprehensive datasets from its Seismological and GNSS stations to provide relevant recommendations to the FCT Administration,” Nnaji said.
This report was published with the support of Civic Media Lab.