Nigeria, like other countries, has made a number of commitments following a series of national and international discussions on how to effectively manage the consequences of climate change on people and industry. Most of the time, after making firm commitments, plans and institutional governance or structure are put in place to ensure that the pledges are fulfilled. Despite this, putting the goals, objectives, and projects of the plans into action has always been difficult. The governor of Rivers State has stated that the high level of black soot production from refineries, particularly illicit ones, has the potential to pose serious health risks to residents.
Several studies had previously demonstrated that particle pollution, such as black soot, is positively linked to a number of morbidities, with a high risk of mortality among exposed populations, before he made this known. “Minimum and maximum emission concentrations dispersion across Port Harcourt ranged from 0.000035 mg/m3 to 0.18 mg/m3 (0.035-180 g/m3),” according to current research. For suspended particulate matter and black smoke, the maximum value produced from these modeling results exceeds the national annual average limits of 40-60 g/m3 by 77-85%.”
According to another study published in a national newspaper, heavy metals concentrations identified in soot imply that thousands of individuals in the state will be exposed to carcinogenic and non-cancerous disorders as a result of the soot in the air. Specifically, Asthma, Tuberculosis, COPD, Pneumonia/Lung infection and Lung malignancies, Interstitial Lung disease, Pleural diseases & others, Upper Respiratory Tract disease, Sarcoidosis and OSA/Sleep disorders were found as the leading respiratory conditions of some residents, studied between 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2018. According to the researchers, ‘the pattern of respiratory diseases reported in this study corresponds with the global pattern of leading respiratory diseases.”
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What Happens When Awareness Doesn’t Lead to Action?
Our investigations, interactions with some individuals, and existing research on black shoot pollution around the country demonstrate that people are well aware of the pollution’s existence. Taking meaningful actions to stop activities that perpetually create the pollution, on the other hand, remains a major issue. For example, a study done in Rivers State found that the majority of participants [chosen from the local population] were aware of soot pollution and believed that the main sources of soot were artisanal crude oil refining and land burning of confiscated crude oil and its products. The majority also believed that the soot had caused them to have a chronic cough as well as irritation in their eyes, nose, and throat. Female participants were much more likely to claim that soot pollution had harmed their health.
The Blame Game
Concerned stakeholders have continued to blame one other after the finding of the current high concentration of black shoot in Port-Harcourt. Accusatory fingers have been pointed from the Rivers State Government to the Federal Government and, several civil society organizations to both governments. The state government thinks that the federal government has failed to control illegal refineries in the state on multiple occasions.
“Unfortunately, the federal government has remained inexplicably silent over our request and even complicit to a large extent with the security agencies actively aiding, encouraging and protecting the artisanal refiners to continue with their harmful activities unabated. We have equally appealed without success to our people engaging in this illegal business to consider its negative effects on our economy, environment, public safety and public health and disengage from it,” governor Wike said.
What is to be done?
If Nigeria is serious about reducing carbon emissions from the oil and gas industry and other businesses by 2030, the blame game must end. State and non-state actors have important roles to play in executing the National Climate Action Plan and other strategic tools for reducing the effects of climate change. In the realm of environmental reporting, media outlets need to step up their advocacy journalism efforts.
According to available evidence, broadcast, print, and online news outlets are not doing enough to communicate the dangers of illegal refining, military setting ablaze of illegally refined petroleum products, tyre burning, gas flaring, meat roasting with used tyres, refuse burning, and other activities that are harmful to human and animal life.
Nigeria, according to our analyst, needs to use environmental analytics. As the need to reduce carbon emissions grows year after year as a result of national and global engagements, analytic techniques for understanding people’s and organizations’ activities are extremely needed. Machine learning-based methods will aid in identifying the most dangerous sites or locations, as well as predicting spots where serious health difficulties are likely to occur in the short, medium, and long term.