In a bold move to safeguard and upscale the level of safety in the Federal capital city and entire country generally, the Federal Government through the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development has commissioned the National Seismic Monitoring station 5.
The centre is located at Katampe, a suburb of the FCT.
During the Commissioning ceremony Tuesday in Abuja, the Minister for Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake stated that the overarching priority to safeguard lives and properties of Nigerians informed the Federal Government’s decision to establish seismic monitoring stations.
Citing incidences of earth tremors that had taken the country unawares in the recent past, the minister asserted that: ” what we need to do is to keep expanding the frontier of our knowledge, make arrangements to mitigate natural disasters and safeguard the lives and properties of Nigerians. It is pivotal to the efforts of government to enhance its service delivery to its citizenry as a responsible entity.”
Dr Alake said the National Seismic Monitoring station at Katampe in Abuja built by the Nigerian Geographical Survey Agency NGSA, ( an agency of the Ministry) which is the 5th seismic monitoring station will enable the detection and monitoring of future occurrence of earthquake and tremor in and around the FCT.
He said, “Who knows the next place, so am happy we are now being compelled to make initiatives. And that is why the government is prepared to support any act of creativity from whichever side as long as it is proffering solutions to problems of our environment ”.
”These stations are located in University of Abuja Gwagwalada, Nasarawa State University, Keffi and the Veritas University, Bwari with the centre at NGSA Headquarters Utako (Abuja). Other stations are NGSA offices in Kaduna and Ilorin. These seismic monitoring stations will enable the detection and monitoring of future occurrence of earthquake and tremor in and around the FCT and shall therefore help to upscale the level of safety in the FCT”, the Minister said.
While commending the collaborative efforts between the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) and the University of Abuja for bringing the seismic project into fruition, the Minister said he was extremely elated that this project will mitigate the effects of global climate change. Dr Alake affirmed that it is one of the reasons why the Tinubu led administration supports every innovative measure being proffered to improve the living standards of Nigerians.
The Minister commended the initiative to all other sectors of our national life, saying ”the NGSA, and of course the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development has taken this bold step to initiate, to monitor seismic tremors anywhere in Nigeria; and we are going to expand the scope to cover more areas. The Renewed Hope Agenda of this present government covers all aspects of our human endeavour”.
“We are extending the frontiers of knowledge. Even in the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, when we came in, we rolled out the 7-point Agenda covering all aspects of Solid Minerals. The first thing we did was to put the solid minerals of Nigeria on the global map. And how did we do it? By marketing the potentials we have in Nigeria to the investing world…” Dr Alake enthused.
In his address, the Director -General of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency ( NGSA, Dr Abdul Razak Garba, said “a robust seismic monitoring capability aligns with the Federal Government Renewed Hope Agenda as it concerns sustainable development involving the integration of technology, innovation and strategic planning to create an environment that is efficient, resilient and responsive to the needs of the nation”.
