Soot crisis: Governor Wike inaugurates technical committee

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In a move to resolve the soot challenge facing Rivers State, Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has inaugurated the Technical Committee for the implementation of the recommendations of the Rivers State Government Report on Soot.

While Inaugurating the committee on Monday 3 June, 2019, Governor Wike directed the State Head of Service to also invite the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Police to participate in the implementation committee.

Governor Wike said that his Administration is committed to addressing the environmental and health issues raised by the presence of soot in Rivers state.

“I have told the chairman of the Technical Committee to ensure that everybody gets the report for the committee to quickly act for us to see positive changes.

“As a Government, we owe our people the duty to tackle soot in Rivers State “. He said.

The Governor said that his administration is committed to addressing the issue of soot contrary to the claims by some members of the society that nothing is being done on the issue.

“We have set up an investigative committee five months ago to helo uncover the causes of the prevalence of soot in Rivers state.”

“The committee have studied the situation. It took not less than five months to identify the causes. This implementation committee is made up of environmental experts/scientists, environmental lawyers, doctors, civil society , oil majors and security services. This is a fundamental move to address the soot crisis “, He added..

He further added that the soot crisis is worse than insecurity, because of the long term health challenges that they pose to the people.

According to a statement released on Monday by the Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor, Electronic Media, Mr. Simeon Nwakaudu, the Rivers state government us deeply concerned and will do everything to ensure that soot issues is resolved.

“This soot does not know the Governor. It does not know a poor man or rich man. It affects everyone. Right here in Government House, I see it everywhere”, He said.

On her part, the chairman of the newly inaugurated Technical Committee and former Environment Commissioner of Rivers state , Prof Roseline Konya assured the Rivers State Governor that the committee will work hard to resolve the soot crisis, adding that most of the committee members are conversant with the process of identifying the causes of soot, hence they will bring their wealth of experience to address the challenge.