Ekiti residents threaten to picket quarry

Residents of Obasanjo Estate in Ikere-Ekiti Local Government Area of Ekiti State have threatened to invade Inland Stone, a quarry operating a the back of the estate.

Residents of the estate were mobilising to storm the quarry on Saturday after they held a meeting but the timely intervention of the General Manager of the Ekiti State Housing Corporation, Mr. Peter Owolabi,  stopped the irate resident from taking their protest to the quarry.

Owolabi was shown the cracks on walls and beams of some of the houses which the residents said were caused by vibrations resulting from rock blasting at the quarry.

He said the vibration could damage the buildings in the estate because they were built of clay. He said the houses, which were set with bricks, would be susceptible to damage as a result of vibration. 

The GM appealed to the residents to shelve their plans and allow him to discuss their complaints with Governor Kayode Fayemi.

The residents have been complaining that the vibration from the  rock blasting done at the quarry was damaging their houses.

A female resident who identified herself as Mrs. C.O Oke said the shock she experienced from the blast which was carried out on Friday had caused her severe headache and pains.

Oke, who is a nurse said her daughter who was also at home when the blast went off had been sick since.

She said, “We have been complaining since and nobody seems to care. The quarry which came to meet us here is damaging our house and its activities are killing us. Must we all die before those in authority will react?”

Some of the residents said they would take the law into their hands if nobody was ready to protect their interests.

But the Managing Director of Inland Stone,  Mr. Dare Omotoso, when visited by journalists last week had said the residents of the estate were just looking for an excuse to send him away from the area.

Omotosho    said his company carried out Environmental Impact Assessment before it started its operations in December 2011.

He said the new technology used, non electric blasting, had eradicated noise and vibration from the activities carried out at the quarry.