NIGERIA DECLARES AIR POLLUTION IN PORT HARCOURT AN EMERGENCY

Nigeria has declared an air pollution emergency in a major southern city on Tuesday and closed an asphalt plant there after residents complained about the fumes from its furnaces.

Residents also staged a protest in Port Harcourt, a harbour city in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, waving their hands in the air to show the soot stains from touching cars.

"The Federal Ministry of Environment has declared the air pollution in Port Harcourt an emergency situation and has subsequently issued a notice to temporarily shut down an asphalt processing plant...belching out thick smoke," the government said in a statement.

The Rivers State government had earlier announced the sealing off of Chinese Government Company, CGC, in Aluu, over “aggravated air pollution, and breach of environmental laws” in the state.

Two other companies – H & H Engineering Company and AUC Asphalt Company – located in Aluu have also been sealed off.

One of the residents, Charles Adolor narrated his experience, "If I am having my bath, the colour of the water, the stains on the sink are always black,Before we can use already-washed plates we have to rewash them again."

Adolor and his family have been wearing face masks inside their apartment to protect themselves from the soot that covers everything from the windows to the bathroom.

In other parts of the state, residents also complained about crude spills from broken or blown-up pipelines and acid rain from gas flaring, the burning of natural gas at oil wells.