Port Harcourt residents raise concerns over persistent soot

Residents of Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State, are worried over a persistent soot that is posing hazard to their health.

The soot began to be observed in Port Harcourt and its environs in the last quarter of 2016 when the entire city was taken over by black substances.

The soot which experts attribute to the activities of illegal artisanal refineries has persisted despite assurances by the state government that it would address the issue.

Apart from the health hazards of the soot, it has polluted the environment because houses, cars, trees, clothes, as well as the environment generally, record dark deposits from the flying soot.

Soot can best be described as a product of incomplete combustion of carbon whose end result is deep black powdery or flaky substances.

The combustible content of soot, according to health experts, has far-reaching hazardous effects on the environment and health of the inhabitants of the environment.

The Rivers State Government in 2017 set up a committee to look into the effects and causes of the soot in the state. The committee headed by the then Commissioner for Information, Dr Austin Tam George, was mandated to look into the remote and immediate causes of the soot in Port Harcourt and its environs. The committee swung into action as it carried out inspection in areas suspected to have been responsible for the soot. The committee visited places like abattoirs where tyres are used to roast cow skin, the Port Harcourt Refinery and some of creeks where illegal artisanal refinery activities use to take place. The immediate actions of the committee yielded result as many arrest were made, just as those whose activities heightened the immediate causes of the soot had their business places shut down.

Gov Nyesom Wike had also on several occasions blamed the military, especially the Joint Military Task Force, who he accused of setting ablaze impounded trucks used in diverting petroleum products.

Gov Wike also carried out discreet investigation in areas considered to be vulnerable to the soot and several arrest were made, just as the premises of companies involved in the activities that emit the black substances were shutdown.

The report of the committee set up by the state government in May, 2019, revealed 12 sources of the soot, including refineries, illegal refineries, burning of refined petroleum products by the military, tyre burning, gas flaring, meat roasting with tyres, asphalt plants, refuse burning and fertiliser companies.

Information obtained from the State Ministry of Environment revealed that artisanal refining is occurring in 14 out of the 23 LGAs of the state. The activities of the refiners are said to be causing incomplete combustion of crude which release carbon monoxide and sulphur into the air.

The committee, in its recommendations, suggested creating modular refineries and integrating the artisanal refiners into cooperatives for the formal refining of petroleum products, which according to the report, is one of the most effective ways to curbing the menace.

Though this requires some processes, but the politics of the 2019 general elections delayed its execution as all attention was shifted towards winning elections which were followed by several litigations.

However, despite all the effort put in place to contain the hazardous effects of the soot, the menace has continued to threaten the lives of residents.

A resident of Port Harcourt, Sammie Ogbonna, blamed the soot on illegal oil bunkering.

Ogbonna said those that were supposed to speak up against the menace were selfish criminal elements who were the sponsors of illegal oil bunkering.

He said, “Unfortunately, politicians, security operatives, youth leaders and ordinary citizens in the state are all involved in illegal oil bunkering activities.

“In few years from now, if nothing is being done by the Government of Rivers State, people may begin to drop dead on the streets of Port Harcourt and other towns and cities around it. Chronic lung and respiratory infections like asthma and bronchitis will be as common as malaria. We must all speak up against the negligence of the Rivers State Government to the cry of Rivers people.

“We applaud the governor when he executes good projects, we applaud his strong political will, let’s also criticise him for neglecting a serious situation as environmental pollution.

“As for Rivers youths, I urge you all to speak up for the sake of tomorrow. The harmful effects of the soot take little or no time to manifest, and no one is exempted.”

A Port Harcourt-based youth organisation, Rivers Renaissance, has also faulted Gov Wike on his inability to address the menace.

The group, in a statement signed by its President General, Dr Dokubo Dan-Tamuno, said its investigation revealed that most Rivers people were already suffering from different diseases as a result of the effects of the soot.

The group said, “The state government itself has admitted in a report published in a national newspaper that over 23,000 people suffer various degrees of respiratory-related diseases due to its inability to provide focused political leadership to cushion the ravaging effects of soot in the lives of the people.”

Rivers Renaissance alleged that Gov Wike was bereft of idea on tackling the challenge, hence resorting to blame games and blackmail at every slightest opportunity.

The group further noted that  the governor’s inability to implement the report of the 20-man committee it set up to investigate the causal factor of the soot was an aberration, hence that he had failed Rivers people woefully.

The group while highlighting the danger of inaction against the environmental crisis, disclosed that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asserted in a report that the soot’s microscopic particles can penetrate deep into the lungs and have been linked with a wide range of serious health effects, including pre-mature death, heart attack, stroke, acute bronchitis, cancer and aggravated asthma in both children and the aged.

It, therefore, called on the governor to as a matter of urgency seek wisdom where necessary and address the challenge immediately.

Presently, the state’s Ministry of Environment has no commissioner. The governor, a couple of months ago, sacked the environment commissioner for “dereliction of duty”. But sources from the ministry said the state government was doing all that it could to address the menace.

Resign or identify operators of illegal refineries – Wike tells LG bosses

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has offered to give N2million to any local government area chairman that identifies the locations and operators of illegal artisanal refineries.

He said any chairman afraid to join in the fight against criminals operating illegal artisanal refineries should be ready to resign, urging them to prove they were not complicit in the act.

The governor who met with the local government chairmen and security agencies at the Government House, Port Harcourt, on Friday also gave them a 48-hour ultimatum to provide a comprehensive list of illegal refineries and their operators within their jurisdictions.

“It is a total war.  It is either we do it or we don’t do it. We cannot allow what is going on to continue. Our people are dying and it is shortening our own revenue,” he said.

The governor also condemned security agents aiding and providing cover to the operators of the illegal refineries in the state.