The House of Representatives has urged the military
to desist from destroying illegal refineries in the country and adopt a global
and a more standard system of dealing with it.
The
lawmakers made the call on Wednesday at Plenary after adopting a motion by Rep.
Chidi Wihioka (Rivers-APC) on the need to address the menace of hazardous soot
causing panic in Port Harcourt.
In
the motion, Wihioka said that burning of the illegal refineries was partly
responsible for the soot challenge.
He
explained that soot was fine particles composed mainly of carbon produced by
incomplete combustion of oil, wood and other fuels.
He
said it consisted of acid rain, metals, soil, dust, and was causing serious
panic among residents of Port Harcourt.
According
to the lawmaker, it makes the people sneeze and cough out black substance after
inhaling the soot.
Wihioka
said that the presence of the soot was noticeable on spread clothes, parked
cars, water stored in drums and when a white handkerchief was used to whip
one’s face or to sneeze.
He
said that if the soot entered the bloodstream of an individual, it could cause
a wide array of health challenges, especially respiratory issues like shortness
of breath, bronchitis, asthma, stroke, heart attack and cancer.
In
his contribution, Deputy Speaker of the House, Mr Yussuf Lasun, said that
burning illegal refineries was not a solution to the problems in the coastal
areas.
Lasun
said that no Nigerian had complained that the petrol, kerosene, diesel and
other products from the illegal refineries were inferior to the imported
products.
He
said that it was high time government sat with the operators of the illegal
refineries to develop modalities for standardising them.
According
to him, if the technology is developed, local companies could independently
take over the oil sector without depending on foreigners.
Lasun
said that a country could develop either through agriculture, technology
transfer “or development of local technology’’.
After
the debate and adoption of the motion, the legislators urged the Federal
Ministry of Environment and the Federal Ministry of Health to constitute an
emergency team of experts to identify the source of the soot and propose remedy.
They
asked the ministries to create awareness on the effect of the soot, adding that
the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) should offer first aid measures
to the people.
In
his ruling, the Speaker of the House, Mr Yakubu Dogara, mandated the Committees
on Environment and Habitat and Healthcare Services to ensure compliance and
report back within four weeks.
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