Abuja tremor: Nigerian govt rules out threat to lives and property

The Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) has reassured residents of Abuja that the earth tremor recorded in parts of the federal capital on August 4 has completely subsided and poses no threat to lives or structural property.

Speaking to journalists in Abuja, the director-general of the agency, Olusegun Ige, said that comprehensive field assessments and over five consecutive days of continuous seismic surveillance revealed no ongoing seismic activity across the nation’s capital.

The briefing follows an alert on the incident, which prompted the minister of solid minerals development, Dele Alake, to order hourly updates from the agency while urging residents across affected FCT districts to remain calm.

According to technical waveform data retrieved from the NGSA seismic monitoring station in Utako, the tremor occurred precisely at 11:23:27 a.m. on August 4.

The event lasted approximately five seconds, originated from a depth of less than one kilometer, and registered a light magnitude of I to II on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale. Ground vibrations were felt up to four kilometers from the epicenter, notably at the Defence Intelligence Agency facility at Mambila Barracks in Asokoro, the NNPC Towers, and selected commercial high-rises within the Central Business District (CBD).

Addressing reporters, Ige said the event lacked the energy capacity to cause structural collapse or ground failure:

“Our message to residents of Abuja is clear: there is no cause for alarm. The tremor was a very low-energy, isolated event, and our monitoring has confirmed that the seismic activity has completely subsided. Nigeria is not prone to major earthquakes,” he said.

“Analysis of the waveform and seismic signals by NGSA described the tremor as a low-moment event, having low amplitude and a very transient shock period that lasted only five seconds from an originating depth of less than one kilometer.”

He said following the tremor, NGSA technical teams conducted physical structural inspections across the facilities where tremors were reported, reporting zero structural cracks, foundation shifts, or injuries to occupants.

Geological analysis attributes the minor vibration to an intra-plate response to “accumulated crustal stress”, aided by the reactivation of northeast-southwest and northwest-southeast “conjugate strike-slip fault lines” running through central Nigeria. Similar low-magnitude micro-events were previously recorded in the region in 2016, 2018, and 2024.

Lara Owoeye-Wise, special assistant on media to solid minerals minister Dele Alake, noted that the ministry mandated the open scientific demonstration to reassure the public through empirical evidence.

“Our initial press statement said there was nothing to worry about. We also stated that the technical team was on top of the situation and monitoring developments,” Owoeye-Wise said.

“The purpose of this technical briefing is to demonstrate the scientific processes behind the government’s conclusion that there is no cause for alarm.”

To enhance long-term national preparedness, the NGSA called on the federal government to fund the expansion of Nigeria’s seismic monitoring network and provide logistical support for continuous real-time data computation across tremor-sensitive zones.