By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Some environment stakeholders converged in a meeting in Port Harcourt to seek resilience to soot and air pollution in Rivers state.
They held a trans-disciplinary meeting on Tuesday in Port Harcourt organised by the ARUA Centre of Excellence for Urbanisation and Habitable cities, University of Lagos and Urban Health and Liveability cluster in collaboration with the Centre for Development Support Initiatives.
The theme of the meeting was “Urban resilience to air pollution and soot in Port Harcourt, South-South, Nigeria.”
The stakeholders lamented that residents, security personnel, transporters, host communities are all key players to the soot pollution.
A representative from the Rivers State Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Engr. Isobo George, in his observation, also noted that key actors in air pollution in Rivers state are indigenes who practically engage into oil bunkering as a source of living.
He also added that there are no coping mechanisms to soot, saying that it is thoroughly devastating the environment as well as the health of the people.
Speaking on the economic impact and place of poverty to soot pollution, Chief Eric Dooh, from one of the Ogoni communities lamented that poverty is not necessarily the reason people engage into oil bunkering.
For the infrastructural impact, a representative from the Centre of Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), also noted that a research by the Centre found out that acid rain which comes as a result of accumulation of carbon in the air affects buildings, cars and other basic infrastructure in the state.
Explaining the private sector efforts made towards alleviating the pollution challenge in the state, Prof Chibuogu Eze from the Rivers State University, informed that researches are being conducted, in which the state has been divided into four zones to get high volume samples.
These samples will help to gather enough findings on the different causes of air pollution.
Earlier speaking, the country director of the Centre for Development Support Initiatives (CEDSI), Dr. Mina Ogbanga said that the highpoint of the meeting is to achieve zero tolerance for soot.
She noted that in Rivers state, Civil Society organizations are currently working towards achieving legislative measures to end soot such as enacting the Rivers State soot law, Rivers State climate change law and Rivers State Gender and climate change Act.
The stakeholders represented the ministries of environment, Energy and natural resources, Women Affairs, Academia, civil society organizations, Communities and the media.