Black Soot: RSG Recommits To Tackle Challenge

The Rivers State Government has reassured residents of the state of its commitment to tackle the black substance otherwise called black soot that is being felt in the air in recent times.
Speaking to newsmen at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa last Friday, when he accompanied the State Governor, Chief (Barr) Nyesom Wike to receive the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, the Commissioner for Information, Dr Austin Tam-George said the state government had received a technical report from the Commissioner for Environment.
He said that experts in the field of environment were co-opted into the technical team to look into the problems associated with black soot methods of tackling the environmental.
“Immediately after the report, Council deliberated and took a resolution that a taskforce made up of the Commissioner for Environment, Professor Roseline Konya, Commissioner for Information and Commissioner for Special Duties be established.
“The formation of the taskforce is not the beginning of efforts by the government on the black soot. Since the middle of  November 2016, the governor had directed the ministry of environment with other professionals to identify the sources of the black soot.
“The hypothesis then was that there could be reasons why we have the black soot. The first could be from the activities of illegal refineries, which we have seen for over 10 years being done in Niger Delta.
“Actually, illegal refinering has intensified in the last five years. Could this be the reason for the black soot?
“The second reason we are looking at is the rising cases of burning tyres in different pasts of the state. We also find that some of the black carbon emission could also be coming from ‘asphalt processing by construction companies, and there is also the case of gas flaring by major oil companies in the state”, he stressed.
According to him, samples of the black soot have been collected and sent to laboratory for analysis, but that result shows that illegal refining activities are the major source of the substance, while others mentioned earlier are contributory.

Corlins Walter