Women who break down rocks

Removing the rocks in Abuja since creation of the FCT has been the duty of multinational companies charged with the responsibility of road construction and building of office or residential complexes but of late, these duties are performed by women who venture even where the multinationals haven’t gone.The women who undertake the job as a […]

Removing the rocks in Abuja since creation of the FCT has been the duty of multinational companies charged with the responsibility of road construction and building of office or residential complexes but of late, these duties are performed by women who venture even where the multinationals haven’t gone.
The women who undertake the job as a means of livelihood say through breaking of rocks they are able to send their children to school and feed their families.
On the Abuja-Keffi express way, these women break rocks into tiny pieces for sale to builders and construction companies who can’t afford to buy gravel from quarries.
The stones broken into small sizes by these women which they heap on display for sale in different quantities make a beautiful sight as the pieces glimmer reflecting any light that fell on them.
The energy sapping activity (breaking stones or rocks) carried out by these women and at times children to make a living is one of the instances where women are doing the work of machines.
Investigation by Daily Trust revealed that most of these women are ignorant of any implication to their health as a result of breaking stones they engage in. Observers therefore say it is important to evaluate the danger of this uncontrolled quarrying to the health of the women and their children and to the environment.
Some women involved in the stone breaking business spoke to Daily Trust about the job. According to one of the women who gave her name simply as Mama Umaru, she had been in the business for many years and as a result had gotten used to the work.  She is not aware of any implication that breaking stones could cause to the environment or to her health.
A young woman, Mary Danjuma who has been in the business for about two years, attribute it to lack of employment and poverty. She said: “I employ labourers to break stones for me and I pay them. I buy a tipper load of stones, big ones from the bush at the rate of N7000 and pay N5000 to transport it here and I pay N5000 for the labourers to break it for me into smaller sizes.”
Mary said each heap of the stones goes for N7000 and at the end of the sales she makes a profit of N3000 from each tipper load of stones but those who break it themselves make more profit.
Also speaking on the challenges in the business, Mary said that the biggest challenge is that there is low turn up of buyers. “We don’t see customers to buy the stones as expected,” she said. She also does not know if engaging in stone breaking causes any environmental or health hazard. “The dust doesn’t cause anything that I know of, only that after breaking the stones with your hands you will be stressed out,” she explained.
A geologist, Bassey Essein with the Nasarawa State University said that the activities of the women which is not limited to Abuja and environs have negative impacts on their health and on the environment.
“Stone dust generation arising from the crushing has the ability to impregnate the surrounding atmosphere with harmful chemicals and elements contained in the rock. These could cause acid rain or a number of health related problems leading to deformation in humans or deaths.” Essein said.
He said it would also lead to the contamination of surface and underground water regimes in the area and cause disturbance and degradation of the landscape capable of triggering erosion problems, landslides, flooding, mass wash, and water ponds.
“It could equally cause the release of radioactive materials or minerals contained in the rock into the surrounding ecosystem and by extension the environment. It can cause pollution problems to the hydrologic cycle in and beyond the area,” he added.