Port Harcourt Soot: An emergency waiting to happen

The Indian specter now hangs in the city of Port Harcourt, Rivers state. The region's mining and oil

factories spray the city with black carbon smoke that falls directly onto populated areas, forcing residents

to breathe air filled with microparticles that are toxic to the body.

Soot is a mass of impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons.

This is more properly limited to the product of the gas phase combustion process but is generally

extended to include residual pyrolyzed fuel particles such as coal, cenospheres, charred wood, and crude

oil that may end up suspended in the gaseous air. As this definition explains, they are chemical residues

resulting from the massive exploitation of fuels. When fossil fuels (wood, oil, coal, etc.) are burned, tiny

black and brown particles are left on the surfaces around the fire - this is soot. Usually, this will be

confined to a chimney. Although very small, these particles can contain tiny fragments of dust, soil,

metal, chemicals, and, more dangerously, acids. While soot can be extremely important to many

different industrial processes, like glass making and boiler performance, it can also be incredibly harmful

to the things around it. Anywhere soot lands, acid can damage the surface if allowed to stay over time,

not to mention the air quality of the places located around the site. The harmful effects on the health of

populations are numerous, but the most obvious are:

Asthma: All asthmatics will see their condition worsen due to poor air quality. Additionally, inhaling soot

can cause throat and lung irritation, which has been linked to the development of asthma in children.

This will lead to a vulnerability to infections for the rest of their life.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: When there are particles in the air, the airways have to work

harder and they become inflamed. This can cause the victim to have breathing problems for the rest of

their life. This can cause the lung condition Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). This will

increase the risk of heart disease and cancer.

Eye and Skin Irritation: A less serious, but still unpleasant side effect of soot particles in the air is

irritation of the eyes and skin. The acid and chemicals, in particular, present in soot can cause itching and

discomfort. Soot can also settle on clothes, so the irritation can last for hours as well.

These can affect anyone, but children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to the health effects of

soot, so all steps must be taken to ensure clean air. What are the consequences

What are the authorities doing?

The answer to this question is simple: nothing has been done so far to stem the problem. The

authorities remain silent on the demands of activists and civil society, and companies continue to pollute

with impunity. Such a situation is already experienced in other parts of the world, such as India or China,

where urban pollution is already part of the daily life of millions of people, causing a significant increase

in lung disease. Is this the fate of the Nigerian authorities for their people by not taking action to stop it?

With an emergency of this nature – the Damocles sword hanging over a city like Port Harcourt, should

the authorities be pretending like nothing is happening?  

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