There are indications that earthquakes have become a potential hazard in the country, following 2016 earthquake occurrence in Kwoi, Kaduna State; Saki in Oyo State.Ibgogene in Bayelsa State and the latest of September 7, 2018, in Mpape, Abuja.

Chairman of the Presidential Committee on the earth tremor in Abuja and Director General of the National  Space Research and Development Agency, Prof Seidu Mohammed, disclosed this while presenting the report of the committee to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu.

A statement by the Ministry, said a study conducted by Julius Berger on the geological, hydrological and geotechnical investigation for Abuja identified Mpape as a shear zone that was weak with several fractures and faults system, as water extraction and recharge imbalance from aquifer were causing hydrological instability along the fractures, adding that the existence of 110,000 boreholes within Abuja metropolis with about 330,000 metric tonnes of water drilled daily was not suitable.

“Though these earthquakes may have been of low-magnitude, it is now certain that earthquake occurrence has become a potential hazard to the nation,” the statement read in part.