Noise pollution wreaks havoc on Abuja residents

Noise pollution mostly from nightclubs and worshipping centres sandwiched in residential quarters is making many families have sleepless nights while the metropolitan authorities look the other way, Daily Trust investigations have shown.

This endless noise coming mostly from worshipping centres and nightclubs, according to Daily Trust findings, are sanctioned by the Abuja metropolitan authorities.

Children can’t sleep due to allnight loud music

For residents of the Stallion Estates located in Lobito Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja, what they want is simply the closure of the two nightclubs located in the same street that prevent their children from sleeping at night.

Our reporters who visited the area observed that just right in front of the estate, there is a nightclub seated, while another one is located just a few blocks away from the estate all in one street.

One of the residents of the estate who spoke to Daily Trust, Usman Muhammad, said their children most times find it difficult to sleep at night as the noise pollution from the clubs is discomforting.

“If you look at Lobito Street, there are two clubs here and they both play their loud music almost at the same time disturbing the whole area and they start every day from about 5 pm till the early hours of the next day. Sometimes, the kids will even wake up crying that they find it difficult to sleep. Our children are suffering and somebody said we shouldn’t bother reporting to the authorities as nothing will be done about it. They said even if we report to the FCDA or the Abuja Development Control, nothing will be done because the club belongs to a big man,” he said.

Muhammad said, “This is a residential area, there are commercial enterprises here but not nightclubs.” He said one of the clubs seated just behind the estate named Reset was actually a residential building not until last year when the club began operations in the last quarter of last year. “It was a residence; they renovated it after the people moved out and then made it a nightclub. So, please we are calling on the appropriate authorities to take action immediately,” he said.

Daily Trust has written a letter to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to unravel the legal identities of the owners of the nightclub. People in the area said a leading National Assembly member who has been sighted in the club several times is believed to own it but our checks at CAC show that it was registered on April 12, 2017, in the name of Nasa Anthony, Thelma Uwa Anthony, and Genevive Ifeoma Anthony.

The club, officially registered as Reset Restaurant and Lounge Ltd, was registered to carry the business of managing, developing and operating of restaurant, lounge, hotels, and café, according to the CAC. It has a share capital of N2 million.

My nightclub is registered – Manager

But the General Manager of the Reset Club, Mr. Amadi in a telephone interview with Daily Trust, said he has a permit for the building and that Reset Club is registered to operate in the area.

“Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) has equally come here to measure the place. So, we have legal permission to operate within this vicinity. For the noise, it is a residential area and we try to monitor and control the noise as it is not every day we are busy but weekends,” he said.

The nightclub operator added that: “We monitor the noise because of the neighbours around since it is a residential area. When we get such complaints, we try to monitor it by telling our DJs to control the sound as much as possible so that it does not disturb our neighbours.”

On the absence of sound-proof equipment in the building, Mr Amadi said, “We are really working on getting the sound-proof fit-in so that the sound doesn’t filter out of the compound.”

Despite the claim by the club manager, that they reduce the noise level of their loud music, even on Sunday nights, residents of Stallion estates and other houses in the area said they could not bear it even after shutting all doors and windows.

We didn’t license nightclubs – AMAC

Mr Amadi’s claim was however debunked by the head of Education Division of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Mrs Dinatu Takura, who denied any knowledge of issuing an operating licence to the clubs.

She, however, challenged the owner of the club to present evidence that the council issued them a permit or licence.

“Didn’t you inquire from them to show you what they are holding on to as a license, they should show you. Is it a certificate? It is then a lie, it is fake, let us reason together if they are sincere in their submission. They are already playing on you people,” she said.

When asked if the council issues licence to clubs, she responded, “Why will you ask me such a question. I have finished my submission to you if we have given them any license let them show it.”

Noise from ‘house of God’

Nightclubs are not only the source of noise wreaking havoc on the Abuja. Places of worship are equally contributing to the huge noise pollution. Narrating his ordeal, a senior journalist in Abuja, said he abandoned his apartment in 2009 because of a noise pollution generated by a church. He said he inquired about the noise level before he packed into the apartment.

“One night and it was about 2.00 am, I was suddenly woken up by the sound of much clapping, drumming and singing conveyed via a public address system. Although the sounds came from the hill, my quiet flat had transformed into a church and I was now a reluctant pastor. I fumed and I raged and felt cheated,” he said.

“The next morning, I raised the matter with my neighbours. They were shocked that I was complaining about noise or sounds coming from the ‘House of God.’ Apparently, the place of worship on the hill has weekly prayer sessions or vigils. Nobody said anything about clapping, vigils, and microphones when I was taking a look at the place. In the meantime, to make matters worse, the neighbour who lived in the flat above mine, brought a generator and put it very close to the door leading to mine. It produced not only noise but also smoke. I was furious wondering why he couldn’t put it on his balcony. There was noise from the hill at night, and in the evening when I sought to rest after a busy day, my neighbour puts on his generator, turning my world into a nightmare,” he said.

Mosques compete for attention

Another senior journalist narrated how ‘noise’ from a mosque made life miserable for her. “In my area at Jabi, we are disturbed by two mosques because their loudspeakers are so loud that it is as if they were in my bedroom. But the annoying thing is that, even after finishing saying the prayer at dawn, one would start supplication, while the other would start preaching, lasting for more than 30 minutes,” she said.

“This means that when you want to do your own supplication or read the Qur’an you are distracted, you cannot concentrate on what you are doing. I wonder why they couldn’t reduce the volume and do it among themselves in the mosque.

“I feel like going to the mosques and tell them to reduce the volume of their loudspeakers, but I know they may brand my complaint as un-Islamic; that I am against prayers and preaching,” the lady said.

She said, “They are very inconsiderate, some people are not Muslims, some are sick and they need their sleep, there are also young children. But even the Muslims are not happy about the disturbance.”

We act when residents complain – AEPB

In his response, the spokesperson of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) Ibrahim Mukhtar, said by the board’s mandate, converting buildings to uses other than those for which approved is illegal and attracts stiff sanctions. He said the board creates awareness on acceptable noise levels in churches, mosques and to the members of the public.

“When we receive such complains we issue abatement notices then court summons. Speakers outside religious centres not allowed especially at night. We have 55 decibels residential and 65 commercial in the daytime while 45 decibels at night time,” Mukhtar said.

We’ll take action – FCT

The coordinator of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Umar Shuaibu said the FCTA feels the outcry of the residents in the FCT that are being inconvenienced by nightclubs. He said immediate action will be taken against them as they are not supposed to operate within a residential area.

“In fact, when you are given a plot for a residential purpose and you use it contrary to what has been approved for use, then that person is violating the approved guidelines and the important clause also the Certificate of Occupancy of the allocation. Therefore, when you violate our procedures then that means we have every right to take whatever actions in order to make sure that we satisfy the system.

“Residents of the FCT must be protected even if it means revocation of that plot for not using it for the purpose in which it was allocated for,” he said.