Soot: RSG Threatens Legal Action

Following the hazardous effect of the black soot on Rivers people, the Rivers State Government has restated its commitment to sue the Federal Government over the problem.
The State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Emmanuel Aguma said this in an interview.
Barrister Aguma cited a Supreme Court judgment which granted the Federal Government the power to control the airways, including air pollution, adding that by this development, the hands of the state government are tied as far as the soot was concerned. He said the issue of refining of crude oil is under the purview of the federal government, adding that the Federal Government can enact law to control the refining of crude oil as well as compel security agencies to stop the destruction of illegal oil bunkering barges.
The commissioner described the soot incident as an attempt to carry out genocide against the people of the state, stressing that the federal government is committing a criminal offence by not addressing the issue.
He noted that the state government since 2016 has created enough awareness, adding that it is already trying to work out the risk implication of the problem.
Aguma said that some of the protests over the soot are in the wrong direction as they are being sponsored by the Federal Government, stressing that the protesters are ignorant of the fact that it is not the government that is fueling the soot, but the Federal Government.
While regretting that the Federal Government seems not to be interested in the matter, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice stressed the need for the Federal Government to sit up and addressed the problem.
Reacting on the issue in an interview with The Tide, an environmentalist, Prince Williams Chinwo described the move by the state government as a step in the right direction.
He said that the proposed suit will make the Federal Government to sit up and end the menace.