Soot in Port Harcourt: Wetin don hapun afta Rivers state Governor Nyesom Wike declare war against kpo fire operators?

One month afta Rivers state Govnor Nyesom Wike declare war against illegal crude oil bunkering and artisanal refining, as a way to stop di soot pollution wey pipo for di state dey suffer, local goment chairmen for di state don discover and destroy many illegal crude oil refining sites.

For im new year message on 1, January, 2022, Governor Wike declare 19 alleged illegal oil bunkering kingpins wanted and direct traditional rulers and all di 23 local goment chairmen for di state “to locate, identify and report to im office all those wey dey behind illegal bunkering and crude oil refining sites to in office for dia localities for prosecution.”

Two weeks later, di govnor bin declare total war against illegal crude oil bunkering afta im visit two sites for Ibaa, Emohua LGA and Ogbodo for Ikwerre LGA wia illegal crude oil bunkering dey go on and see di level of devastation e don cause di environment.

Di govnor bin give 48 hours ultimatum to all di 23 local goment chairmen to submit di list of illegal crude oil bunkerers to am and e promise to give dem two million naira for evri new one dem discover.

Wetin don hapun since den?

Local goment chairmen begin enter deep inside dia localities, across di riverine and upland areas to discover illegal crude oil bunkering and artisanal refining sites.

Fotos and videos of dis sites dem from Ahoada East, Ahoada West, Bonny, Degema, Eleme, Oyigbo LGAs in addition to di ones for Emohua, Ikwerre, Port Harcourt and Obio Akpor LGA don flood social media since den.

Asides from di pipo di govnor declare wanted, e no clear who else don cop arrest for di mata since di exercise start.

Although reports say dem don arrest some pipo for some local goment areas.

Wike accuse security operatives

Governor Nyesom Wike also accuse security operatives say dem dey support and encourage illegal crude oil bunkering activities for di State.

Sake of dis, di Commandant General of NSCDC, Ahmed Audi immediately disband di Anti-vandal unit for Rivers State and summon all di officers to NSCDC headquarters as dem begin investigate di allegation.

Di Rivers State Police Command likewise redeploy di DPO di govnor accuse and set up panel to investigate di mata.

'Harm to di environment'

One of di actions some of di local goment chairmen dey take na to set some illegal crude oil refining sites on fire or burst and burn di storage tanks wia dem store di illegally refined crude oil products dem discover.

Dis dey cause serious concern among environmentalists as dem observe say such actions dey add to di destruction of di environment.

Prof. Precious Ede of di Rivers State University say one way to handle dis na for dem to handover such products dem seize from illegal crude oil refining sites to agencies of goment like di Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and Department of Petroleum Resource DPR, (wey now don become Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission) wey get di capacity to handle such products.

Prof. Ede wey bin dey di committee wey di Rivers State goment put togeda to chook eye into wetin dey cause di black soot pollution for di state say part of dia recommendations afta dem identify wetin dey cause am, na for di state goment to get facilities wia dem go fit receive dis illegally refined products afta dem seize dem from di sites.

E dey concerned about di sustainability of wetin di goment don start, "e go still continue afta dis period or even afta im comot for office?” E ask.

“Di one wey we dey see some of di LGA chairmen dey destroy some sites with fire or pour am for di environment no dey good because dis crude oil or petroleum products na hazardous products wey no good.

So if di state goment get a proper plan and strategy, den dem go clearly define wia dem go keep all dis products instead of to go dey destroy am as e go destroy di environment in addition to wetin don already destroy as a result of di illegal refining activities.” Im tok.

Anoda environmentalist Rev. Nnimmo Bassey also express concern around di approach.

“Di problem with giving dis task to local goment chairmen be say, I no see how dem dey equipped to do di job and di mechanism dem go apply.

But di mandate for dem to identify and destroy dey very disturbing because di illegal refineries for di bush na basic construction wey no need to dey destroyed because to destroy am na to create more harm to di environment and create more pollution to di forest, di creeks and swamps and e go take ages before dem fit repair di harm e go cause.

Wetin I feel say di goment fit do na to send experts to go dis sites di local goment chairmen don identify go dismantle di basic contraptions dem build as refineries and collect di stored crude and products wey di refiners don steal and put dem for a place wia dem fit safely and properly dispose dem.” Rev. Nnimmo Bassey tok.

Di black soot pollution don stop?

Di major reason why di Rivers State Governor declare dis war na to stop di black soot pollution wey pipo for di state don dey complain about since 2016.

Govnor Wike bin observe say since di LGA chairmen begin go afta di illegal crude oil operators, di black soot pollution bin reduce small.

But for some days especially between di 17 and 18 January, pipo across Rivers state bin still observe serious soot for di early morning hours and snap fotos wey cause some tok for social media.