Port Harcourt residents panic over hazardous black soot

Residents of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital have cried out over hazardous black soot that covered the atmosphere in some parts of the city early Wednesday morning.

Those interviewed by BusinessDay said it is time for the Rivers State Government to intervene and allay fears of the residents.

The soot panic first began mid 2016 when residents said they noticed black soot on their household items. Emilia Akpan, national vice president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) told BusinessDay that the residents faced cancer epidemic. She called on the state government to intervene.

Lara Joseph, a crèche proprietor in Woji area of Port Harcourt and area pastor of a Redeem Church parish in Elelenwo area, appealed to her church members to wear nose masks while also appealing to the state government to take a stand.

The most strident appeal seems to come Blessing Wikina, former chief press secretary to a governor, who quoted a circular that reads; “Dear Port Harcourt residents, the time has come for us compel the government to fish out the perpetrators and put a stop to this hazard called black soot. We can no longer sit back and ignore this menace. Last year we started a media movement and the black soot stopped for a while; now it is back and in greater intensity. Let’s ask ourselves how long it will take for PH residents to start lining up at hospitals with respiratory infections or perhaps cancer? Enough is enough!”

He went on: “The air we breathe is highly polluted. You wake up in the morning and you wipe your nostrils with a white handkerchief and it turns black- what then does your lungs look like or that of your toddler? If you think you can close your windows and run air conditioners, what about the cost of diesel? This thing is so severe that even when you come in contact with the mosquito nets over your bed you turn black. Ok let’s look at your ceramic bath tubs; when you are done showering the black soot sticks to the tub so that you have to scrub with soap and sponge to get it off. My friends, this is what we are breathing in PH city. We don’t need a 2Baba to say that cost of living is high what we are facing now is a life threatening situation and the ministry of environment is keeping “shush” about it. I am not a medical doctor or an environmentalist but I know that in no distant time deaths will be recorded as a result of this pollutant. May it not be yours or mine. That is why the time is now to push the Government to do the needful. Only a healthy people make a healthy nation. Share this please we need to make our voices count on this subject.”

An expert in an NGO, Chris Newsom, told BusinessDay his organization had done extensive findings to pin the soot to any cause, but said the effort was still on-going. The masses want the state government to use its strength through the Ministry of Environment to trace the source of the pollution and tell the residents the actual implications. A source in the Ministry asked this reporter on Wednesday to book for a date for interview.

There is however haze in the air, which is different from the soot. The haze seems to be found far beyond Port Harcourt even beyond Aba in Abia State, according to BusinessDay findings, while the soot does not go up to Choba on the way to Warri.

Social media seems to take over. 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.