Soot is the new Oxygen

My people make up the world's largest black race, and I'm from Nigeria, Africa's powerhouse. Nigeria's oil and gas reserves are huge, worth trillions of dollars. I was born and raised in the country's southern region, which has the country's oil and gas reserves.

I'm currently live in "Rivers State," which is known as "Oil State" because of its large oil and gas deposits and proximity to oil and gas producing firms. We produce tons of oil every day, which is also shipped via nearby waterways, with so many oil and gas operations, pollution is an issue.

Of course, everyone recognizes the notion of pollution, which is defined as any activity or action that modifies the environment in a way that is hazardous to human life. The fight to reduce pollution is a global war in which all countries are coming together to sign a slew of treaties in order to find solutions to our planet's growing challenge. In the southern portion of Nigeria, the most common types of pollution are air and water pollution.

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The skies in my city are dark and getting darker by the day, the floors of our homes are filled with dark carbon particles, and our feet turn black as we walk around our homes. The emergence of soot is now our problem.We are supposed to breathe oxygen, but instead we inhale and exhale Soot. As a result of the emergence of Soot, our chances of developing breathing problems have increased.

Our air pollution is mostly caused by the high number of illegal refineries that produce processed oil and gas products. The advantages of oil and gas development that we see in nations like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are not the same in Nigeria.

Oil and gas are now our greatest threat to survival; the air is thick with dark particles; you cough up carbon particles from your organs; the sky are no longer clouded, but they are forced to be dark due to air pollution. Facemask is no longer used to resist Covid 19, but rather to withstand the new opponent known as Soot. Individuals are floating illicit refineries, exploiting natural resources and contaminating the air as a result of a broken system, increasing our chances of mortality.

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Another issue that hasn't been addressed is gas flaring; imagine a combination of soot and gaseous emissions from flaring; it's just another sneaky way to poison a rising populace,when it comes to fighting pollution, the government becomes extremely hypocritical, resulting in the creation of pollution-fighting agencies. These agencies are never functioning since the proprietors of these illicit refineries can simply pay them, thus they are forced to turn a blind eye.

I'm puzzled as to why a man would prefer money over health, when wealth cannot be enjoyed without health. Despite the fact that the negative effects of pollution on the soil could linger for decades, we are concerned about printed papers.

The Ogoni Oil Spill, which is predicted to take over 30 years to clean up and will cost billions of dollars, is a global pollution case in the southern portion of Nigeria that has drew the attention of the globe.: The area's main source of income has died. The waterways have been contaminated with crude oil, and the aquatic life has died and become poisoned. The once fertile area is now entirely unusable for farming. A whole race or ethnic group is forced into poverty and famine as a result of costly mistakes made by oil exploration firms, the government turns a blind eye to the problem.

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Air pollution kills people faster than most other types of pollution, we need more than public awareness initiatives like seminars and workshops.It's past time to discover out what's creating these problems with air quality. In my community, pollution is a concern, and the only answer is to shut down the illegal oil and gas plants immediately.

SOLUTIONS

• The Government must show dedication to stop and destroy all existing illegal refineries, the operators of such refineries must be prosecuted for their actions.

• The Federal agencies saddled with the responsibility of ending Pollution needs to reshuffled periodically. The essence of establishing agencies is to see results on certain issues, Hence no one should be allowed to head an organisation without producing results

• Absolute sensitisation of the public on the concept of Pollution, the types and the roles we play in promoting it should be done across the country. Kids should be taught in school about it, all means of educating people should be used

• Better professional operations should be demanded and enforced upon by the Government on Oil and Gas Companies. The standards of operation was must be followed properly to ensure that the rate of Pollution is reduced.

• The affected lands should be cleaned up properly to fasten the amount of years required to provide a new environment for the people.

CONCLUSION

My City is popularly known as the Garden City of Nigeria because of its beauty. I now see a garden with dark skies, polluted water with crude oil. We must treat Pollution as a War on the world to defeat it, Government must be impartial on their efforts to curb Pollution and our agencies must be transparent at all time.Pollution has a substantial detrimental influence on both the environment and people, putting our health at risk and cutting off a source of income in impacted areas. These are the kinds of things you read on the internet or see on TV about how dangerous it is to live in a country where there is conflict, despite the fact that our conflict is unique to this part of the world.

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