By Duabo Charles
For about 10 years now, the people of Rivers State, particularly residents of Port Harcourt, have been plagued with the menace of soot.
For emphasis, soot is black powdery carbon, produced by the incomplete burning of organic matter like woods, coal, tyres, etc.
It was reported that the soot became noticeable in Port Harcourt in 2016 and since then the atmospheric pollution has lingered on. However, the factors resulting in its prevalence happened years before 2016.
The soot pollution seems to be getting much worse recently, as the skyline in some parts of the city has become murky and heavily laden with dark particles, with residents complaining of accumulated soot particles in homes, offices, and everywhere in the metropolis.
Residents often complain of stained noses by black particles (apparently from the inhaling of carcinogens) and discolored feet. Residents also complain of soot staining clothes, parked cars and surfaces.
It is reported that soot particles do not only float in the atmosphere, they also penetrate through shut doors and windows into the homes of residents, making it difficult for people to escape it.
Over the years, there has been much public outcry about the prevalence of soot and the health dangers it portends for city residents.
Environmental rights groups and civil rights activists like Eugene Abels and Sandra Ezekwezili have staged protests, trended hashtags like #Stopthesoots on social media, calling on government at all levels to take action on the atmospheric pollution by soot.
Although soot is also caused by gas flaring, burning of tyres, asphalt plants, meat burning with tyres, and refuse burning, reports have it that the soot in Port Harcourt is primarily caused by illegal oil bunkering activities and the destruction of bunkering facilities by the Nigerian military.
This was confirmed by Governor wike of Rivers state in November this year, when he hosted the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Amao.
The governor stated that the soot is caused by oil bunkering while bemoaning its deadly effect on residents of the state.
“I don’t know, whether we should take the issue of bunkering to be a more serious offense than treason. If you go around and see what has happened to our environment, you’ll pity us.
“If there is another civilized way to go about it so that while you’re doing the right thing, let us not die. You should find another way to reduce this soot. Unfortunately, we have no helper. On the other hand, we continue to pray to God to touch the minds of these bunkers,” he said.
In April 2017, Nigeria’s Ministry of Environment told American Cable News Network (CNN) that soot pollution is not unconnected with the operation of illegal oil refineries and their destruction.
“There is a direct correlation between the level, intensity, and composition of the soot and illegal oil refinery activities, including their destruction in the Niger Delta,” the ministry said.
Since the public admittance by authorities that soot in the Port Harcourt metropolis and by extension Rivers state is primarily caused by activities of illegal refineries, nothing concrete has been done by both federal and state governments to stop the operation of oil bunkers, except the usual setting up of committees.
Although there were efforts to set up modular refineries by the federal government to stop illegal bunkering in the state, such efforts as evident today have been largely feeble and as a result unsuccessful.
The need to stop illegal bunkering has become even more glaring when one considers the health implications it portends to the inhabitants of the state.
In January, this year, Guardian Nigeria reported in an article that, a reviewed report of a technical team set up by the Rivers State government and headed by the state’s former Commissioner for Environment, Prof. Roseline Konya, revealed that about 22,077 persons have suffered from respiratory-related ailments in the last five years.
That is a terrifyingly alarming number and it is better left imagined the number of people in the state who would fall ill from respiratory-related ailments in the next decade or so. It is believed that ailments of such kinds develop imperceptibly and take years to manifest.
However, respiratory ailments are not the only soot-related diseases, according to findings by health professionals, soot can also cause skin cancer, skin irritation, and coronary heart diseases.
Today, while many residents as a result of the health dangers posed by the soot pollution relocate to other places, it is reported that some have resorted to the use of the M95 face mask to cope with the atmospheric hazard.
In time, as the awareness of its dangers spread, more residents would inevitably leave the city and by extension the state for other safer places. This, from an economic angle is not good for the state and more so for its image.
Meanwhile, more than anything, a solution must be found to stop the soot to protect the locals, who may not have the means, will and capacity to relocate from their ancestral homes.
The Nyesom Wike-led state government must and as a matter of urgency synergize with the federal government to set in motion measures to stop the soot.
That should be the government’s priority going forward because the primary duty of government as always is to protect lives.