Residents of Port Harcout, the Rivers State capital have cried out over hazardous black soot that covered the atmosphere in some parts of the city early Wednesday morning.
Witnesses who narrated their experiences using various social media platform, especially Twitter said the soot, carbon air pollution was seen very early in the morning. Aside from enveloping the sky in areas like Woji, particles were seen on the ground, cars, rooftops, swimming pools; some people had pictures of black tissue they had used to cover their noses to avoid breathing in the soot and other had their bare feet stained.
According to Kenny Disu, a blogger, the soot first made an appearance “in the first few days of December 2016.” Narrating the ordeal, Disu wrote “A closer look into the atmosphere, one could observe a cloud of black particles in the air. The general visibility became blurry. It was an unusual occurrence that lasted for days, to the amazement of many observers.”
Following the December experience, precisely on 8 December, 2016, the Ministry of Environment in Rivers State issued a press release acknowledging the “strange black soot deposits noticeably seen on cars and rooftops.” The ministry promised to quickly deal with the situation.
A month later, residents said they are yet to see a report from the ministry and any semblance of action being taken to address the soot.
A 2015 Reuters report identifies“particle pollution like soot” as a known health hazard that is linked to the risk of heart disease and stroke. Women that suffer from diabetes are even more vulnerable than most people. Jaime E. Hart a lead author of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, was quoted in that article saying “a number of studies of short-term air pollution exposures have suggested that individuals with diabetes are at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.”
For the greater part of the day, residents in areas where the soot affected in Port Harcourt phoned into popular radio stations like Cool FM and Nigeria Info PH to narrate their ordeals.
“This black air you see in River State is as a result of carbon soot, that dark powdery or flaky causing harm. We cannot deny the respiratory tract infections children and adults are currently facing in Port Harcourt. Exposure of the human skin to carbon soot puts us at risk of cancer,” Taribo Joseph told Nigeria Info FM.
Staff of the radio stations also tweeted pictures of themselves with placards written #StoptheSoot.
Remi Sonaiya, presidential candidate for KOWA party also took to her Twitter handle to create awareness of the black soot.
“There is serious air pollution in PH. The health of the people is at stake. Departments of health and environment please take swift action,” Sonaiya tweeted.
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