By: John Bibor

Rivers Network of NGOs (RINNGAS) has called for the amendment of the Rivers State Environmental Protection Law to criminalise larges scale bush burning and felling down of big trees without authorization from either the state government or local government councils. The group said this at the just concluded public hearing on the amendment of the Rivers State Environmental Protection and Management Bill 2022 at the state Assembly complex in Port Harcourt.
In a paper submitted to the Committee on Environment during the public hearing, the group noted that, “In the fight against black soot, the inclusion or criminalising of large scale bush burning should also be a major concern because we need to preserve the trees as biodiversity which we know to be natural carbon sinks inorder to experience a faster healing process of the atmosphere.
Continuing, the group said, “to achieve this, there should be a form of authorisation from the local government which should also receive a permission through the Ministry of environment before any large scale bush burning should be criminalised.
The group also suggested that the amendment should penalise specific large scalse polluters such as; construction companies and the likes whose activities should be regulated, illegal bush burners and persons engaged in illegal petroleum refining.
“Hence, there is need to modify the bill to effect the specific activities that cause and contribute to the alarming rate of soot in Rivers State”.
The group said there is need for a provision for an alternatives and less hazardous mode of engagement by security agencies, prohibiting them from further confiscating illegal tanks and Kpofire camps by burning the products organisation also called for the establishment of a Rivers State Air Quality Management Authority (RAGMA) or a standing committee with a cross section of stakeholders whose primary responsibility should be ensuring clean air for the state and also include the development of ways and means of real time monitoring and documentation of the air quality index of various parts of the area.
“We call for a new subsection for mandatory inclusion of quarterly environmental orientation and awareness in all community structures across the three senatorial districts of Rivers State which will be directly managed by the proposed Rivers State for Quarlity Management Agency. Coordinator of the group Dr Mina Ogbanga decried the poor Air quality index of Rivers State.
According to her, the WHO standard for particulate matter is qoug/mg and any city that exceeds the recommended figure is abnormal and poses threats to the air quality of its residents.
In Port Harcourt, the average has been 43 mm which is an alarming figure and as such, there have been an emerging sequence of prevalent illness diagnosed among residents such as cough at nasal ailment, bronachial infections and an increase in respiratory infections”, she said.