Governor Nyesom Wike has ordered the immediate shutdown of all illegal oil refining sites in the state due to the rate of environmental pollution caused by soot in some parts of Rivers State.
He also directed local government chairmen, especially Port Harcourt City Local Government, to identify such sites and effect his order. He asked the council chairmen and community leaders to identify and report to his office those behind illegal bunkering and crude oil refining sites in their localities for prosecution.
Wike, who gave the order in his 2022 New Year message on Saturday, said the directive stemmed from the failure of the Federal Government and security agencies to rein in those behind illegal oil bunkering and artisanal crude oil refiners in the state.
The governor’s directives were contained in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri.
He said, “We have drawn the attention of the Federal Government to this problem and requested for its intervention to stop illegal bunkering and artisanal crude oil refiners, which have been identified as the main sources of the soot pandemic.
“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.”
There have been concerns over prevalence of soot, a deep black powdery or flaky substance consisting largely of amorphous carbon, produced by the incomplete burning of organic matter, in some parts of the state. The emission was said to have started in 2016.
