Samuel Bello, Abuja
The Federal Government, on Tuesday, said it has installed no fewer than four seismometers in four strategic areas in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with a view to curbing future earth tremor.
Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Abubakar Bwari, stated this in Abuja at the commissioning of Earthquake monitoring command and control centre established by the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA).
“Following repeated tremors around Abuja, the initial programme of national deployment was adjusted to accommodate seismographic densification of Abuja. A 4-station Abuja network has therefore been put in place to have a closer and more effective oversight of the FCT, ” he said.
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Speaking further, the minister disclosed, that the 4-station triangular network is located at Nasarawa State University, Keffi; University of Abuja, Gwagwalada; Veritas University, Bwari and NGSA command and control centre in Utako, Abuja.
In his explanation, NGSA Director-General, Alex Nwegbu, noted that all six geopolitical zones in the country will have the equipment.
He said, “This is a first step, we intend to have in phases installations of seismometer in other parts of the country, but because of the frequency we are now experiencing on earth tremors in Abuja, we decided to slightly alter the architecture.
“We all aware that Abuja is the seat of power, very sensitive, so we need to actually establish a robust monitoring mechanism in Abuja here.”
Nwegbu added that “We are all aware that when the earth tremor occurred in September and November, these equipment was not yet installed, so it was difficult to establish the precise magnitude and epicenter of the earth tremor.
“But now we have the facility to actually understand the exact mechanism of earthquake and also improve our predictive capacity in NGSA. Nigerians should expect a more robust safety infrastructure that would enable us sleep with our two eyes closed.”