Indiscriminate drilling of boreholes may cause earthquake in Nigeria, group warns

The Association of Water Well Drilling Rig Owners and Practitioners has warned against indiscriminate drilling of boreholes to prevent a possible occurrence of earthquake and other natural disasters in Nigeria.

The National President of the association, Michael Ale who made the call in an interview with Journalists in Ibadan, Oyo state capital, urged the government to regulate the drilling of boreholes by Nigerians.

He granted the interview on the sideline of the national advocacy/sensitisation workshop on 2013 National Water Resources Master Plan and United National Water Convention for stakeholders in the South-West, which held on Thursday.

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Ale warned that such natural disaster may occur in the future as there are already reported cases of earth tremor in some parts of the country.

“It may cause an earthquake. It may not be now, it may be in the next 20 years. Nigeria is not in an earthquake-prone region, despite that, we are having earth tremors now. It happened in Saki and other places”, he argued.

He further urged the government to provide pipe-borne water to the citizens, as such would reduce the rate at which boreholes are sunk for private use.

By Oluwatobi Odeyinka…

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