Residents of Abuja’s AMAC districts, particularly in Dape and surrounding areas, are raising alarms over severe dust pollution stemming from the ongoing dualization project on the Life Camp to Karmo to Gwagwa road.
The project, which is being executed by the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) under the leadership of Hon. Christopher Zakka Maikalangu, is currently being handled by the contractor CRANEBURG CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LIMITED. Though the expansion was intended to ease traffic, it has instead made the axis almost unlivable due to severe dust pollution that has left a trail of respiratory illnesses in its wake.
The impact is most severe in Dape and surrounding settlements. Since the peak of the dry season, clouds of thick, white dust generated by the heavy machinery and excavated earth of CRANEBURG CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LIMITED have covered homes, shops, schools and churches.
Worshipers, Business owners and Residents around Kado, Angwa Cement and Dape, located in front of the road been constructed have gone down with various respiratory illness such as catarrh, severe sneezing, asthma etc.
Medical practitioners in local clinics have reported a significant spike in patients presenting with symptoms of bronchitis, chronic asthma, and severe skin infections. Residents within complain that the dust is so pervasive that it settles on food and drinking water within minutes.
“We can no longer breathe,” said a resident in that area. “Children are coughing profusely, and our elderly are struggling for every breath. This isn’t development; it’s a slow poison. We expected the contractor to at least use water tankers to suppress the dust daily, but that has been largely ignored.”
The outcry is not limited to health concerns. Since October 2025, the construction site has become a graveyard for vehicles and passengers.
Critics point to a major failure by the AMAC administration and the construction company to provide viable alternative routes. The diversions currently in use are riddled with deep craters and sharp rocks. For over five months, car owners have seen their livelihoods drained by constant repairs to shock absorbers, tire busts, clogged air filters etc.
Commuters now take longer hours to get to their work destination often leading to stress and various economic implication like loss of jobs.
Residents have said that this cannot be allowed to continue and have called on the AMAC Chairman, Honorable Christopher Zakka, and the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike to immediately find solution to this crisis in other to avoid a worse health crisis.
Suggested Solutions include: Mandating CRANEBURG CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LIMITED. to implement standard dust suppression protocols e.g regular watering of the site, urgently grade the alternative routes to prevent further economic loss to vehicle owners and provide a clear timeline for the completion of the project to end the suffering of the masses. All effort to reach the contact number on the company website prove abortive +2348140000488 as at the time of this publication.
