An environmental expert and Neuro-Physiologist in the Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, University of Port Harcourt, Dr. Leelee Zitte says the spate of pollution ongoing in the Niger Delta may be responsible for the rising health challenges in the region.
Zitte, in a chat with The Tide, last Monday, in Port Harcourt, said that the soot problem, burning of tyres, gas flaring and oil pollution have increased life-threatening: ailments, and sought for urgent study and steps to curb the menace.
“There is need for a scientific study”, Zitte said, adding “these pollutions can have some effect on the body and it has to be looked into holistically”.
He insisted that the accumulative effects of gas flaring and oil spillage over the years have altered wildlife presence, crops’ yield and life-span of the people; insisting that there was need to carry out a scientific evaluation to ascertain the level of damage.
“Take for instance, the issue of soot and gas flaring, it can cause lung diseases and asthma … It can equally affect the reproductive system of the body” the Neuro-Physiologist asserted.
He, however, noted that the soot being witnessed in Port Harcourt and other parts of the state cannot be totally linked to illegal refineries, emphasizing that it could be a combination of many sources.
“There is burning of tyres, there is gas flaring, there are industrial wastes. So, it can be a synergy of two or more sources to magnify the problem,” he said.
Zitte also blamed sabotage and negligence as major factors responsible for the rising environmental degradation in the region.
He picked holes in the current waste management method as it lacks modern procedure and at the same time worsens environmental state of the region.
Zitte observed: “Everything we call waste has a use. So, for me, waste is an expression of ignorance”.
The university don recommended that the state should adopt sorting of waste from source, as he explained: “things we are throwing away are what can make us rich. The knowledge to use what we waste is what we need”.
Wike Orders Lecturers’ Probe Over Sexual Harassment, Sorting
The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has directed the governing councils and heads of state-owned tertiary institutions to set up committees to investigate reported cases of sexual harassment and sorting against lecturers.
This decision was reached after a meeting the Rivers State governor held with the chairmen of the Governing Councils, Vice Chancellors, Rectors and Provosts of State-Owned Tertiary Institutions at the Government House, Port Harcourt, yesterday.
A statement by the Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, noted that the institutions involved include: Rivers State University, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Port Harcourt, Rivers State College of Health Science and Technology and Rivers State School of Nursing.
The statement added that all the affected institutions were expected to report back to the governor on the outcome of their investigations.