VANGUARD NEWS

Reminiscent of the George Floyd saga, the people of Rivers State are finding it difficult to breathe due to the environmental challenge of soot scientifically known as black carbon.

Floyd, it must be recalled, choked to death when he was pinned beneath three police officers who were trying to arrest him in Minnesota, United States on May 25, 2020.

Shortly before he gave up the ghost, he reportedly cried out: I cannot breathe.

Today people in Rivers State and neighbouring Bayelsa State lament that they cannot breathe on account of exposure to emissions of soot, a hazardous black amorphous carbon that has almost completely polluted the air in the areas.

Convinced that the soot is a cancerinogenuous chemical and that inhaling it had led to the death of many,  stakeholders in the affected areas had in 2018 reportedly initiated a campaign with the common refrain: “Save Rivers from this soot of death.”

Indeed the industry regulator, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA, did confirm at the time the danger of the fast-spreading soot.

According to NOSDRA Director General, Sir Peter Idabor: “The soot is an emergency. Our lives are really at risk, children are the most vulnerable as it sits in the lungs.

“It’s so amorphous; experts have measured its particle size as 2.5 microns, seen only through high-powered microscopic lens.

“So it can’t be prevented from entering homes and offices even with windows sealed.”

Prompted by this official confirmation, the stakeholders had organised a “Stop the Soot” rally in Port Harcourt, obviously with the aim of forcing the relevant government and non-government authorities to take action.

But three years later, there seems to be no end in sight to the soot pollution.  In his recent write-up on the worrisome development, Vanguard columnist and a prominent political leader in Rivers State, Dr Dakuku Peterside, raised the alarm about the worsening prevalence of the deadly soot which he said has caused a reduction in the air quality index.

Making reference to findings of the Professor Precious Ede-led Technical Committee set up by the Rivers State Government which did a comparative investigation on the impact of soot pollution over a three-year period, he said: “An estimated 500,000 persons have had their immune systems compromised and exposed to the extreme of the prevalent viral infection, and another unconfirmed number of persons are suffering from severe kidney, liver, and mental problems.

“There is most likely a rapid increase in cancer-related cases.”

Reacting to the problem, Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, had ordered an immediate shutdown of all illegal oil refining sites in the state, just as he blamed the Federal Government for failing to move against and bring to book those behind illegal oil bunkering and artisanal crude oil refiners in the state.

But while the blame game over the problem goes on, we share the sentiment with most independent observers that the politicisation of the soot pollution in Rivers and Bayelsa states is not the way to go.

Instead, this is the time to adopt a collaborative approach in tackling the soot menace by getting to its root.