Environmental Outrage: Nigeria's Black Soot Crisis

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states the following in Chapter II:

20. The State shall protect and improve the environment and safeguard the water, air and land, forest and wild life of Nigeria.

21. The State shall -

(a) protect, preserve and promote the Nigerian cultures which enhance human dignity and are consistent with the fundamental objectives as provided in this Chapter; and (b) encourage development of technological and scientific studies which enhance cultural values.

The black soot problem in Nigeria's Port Harcourt region has been a growing public health crisis since 2016. While illegal oil refineries operated by oil thieves have been cited as the primary cause, the government appears too impotent to prevent and prosecute refinery operators with any sustainable impact or, as some suggest, is complicit with the military police altogether due to the invidious problem of corruption and payoffs. This environmental crisis is confirmed in the article, Exposure to Heavy Metals in Soot Samples and Cancer Risk Assessment in Port Harcourt, Nigeria which appeared in the Journal of Health and Pollution, 2019 December; 9(24): 19121. The statement below from the article highlights the essence of the black soot problem:

Port Harcourt is an oil-rich city in Nigeria's Niger delta region. For over two years, Port Harcourt experienced black soot deposition in the environment. In November 2016, residents woke up to black soot covering cars, clothes, houses, plants, etc. Soot concentrations continued to increase until the first quarter of 2017. After public outcry, the frequency and concentration of soot deposition began to decline.

Despite their claim that this problem "began to decline", clearly black soot is still a serious environmental issue in 2020, and the article states as much in their conclusion:

The high concentrations of Pb and Cd recorded in this short – term study are a source for concern as these metals are persistent in the environment and are known to bioaccumulate. These heavy metals have been classified as carcinogens by the IARC. Their prevalence in ambient air puts the population in Port Harcourt metropolis at risk of lung, liver, blood and renal cancer, and children are at higher risk.

Between the government of Nigeria and its Constitution, there is a serious breakdown in the rule of law and any established enforcement mechanisms that have been implemented to carry out the authority of the state to ensure citizens are protected. The State is both accountable to and responsible for the safety of its citizens and the fulfillment of basic constitutional protections. Thus, the citizens of Nigeria have a fundamental right to make claims against the State when this trust is broken. At a minimum, Nigerians in the Port Harcourt region can assert that they have a moral expectation of their government because public safety is clearly circumscribed by provisions in their Constitution.

Years of constant black soot reigning down on the homes and crops of five-million NIgerians daily is a gross environmental outrage that violates human dignity, Constitutional authority, and the moral and legal responsibilities of the State to protect her citizens. Again, and in closing, Nigeria's Constitution makes it clear that, "The State shall protect and improve the environment and safeguard the water, air and land, forest and wild life of Nigeria." Until it can be shown otherwise, the State is guilty of moral and Constitutional failure, and the citizens of Port Harcourt have a right to act in their interest to secure and protect their environment and their very survival, especially when the government continues to act with apathy and reckless disregard against the health and wellbeing of Port Harcourt citizens.

Liberia: State of Depravity and Desperation

From politics to currency, admittedly, I know very little about Liberia, its country or its people. That said, I recently came across a stirring story at www.liberianobserver.com titled Preventing Another Bloodbath in LIberia: A Case for International Intervention. The author, Gabriel I.H. Williams, a credible and highly regarded former Liberian Diplomat and Deputy Minister of Information, laid bare his country's sins in a shock-and-awe expose of gross state corruption at all levels. In short, Williams portrays Liberia as a country in deep moral crisis, a country that appears to be teetering on the brink of collapse unless world leaders act with utmost urgency through a broad spectrum of economic, political, and peacekeeping initiatives so that tLIberia does not worsen beyond recognition.

I am pleased to know that the United States is sounding the alarm. Congressman Chris Smith apparently has used his status as Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on AFrica to warn of impending Magnitsky Act sanctions against President Weah's oppressive regime if rampant human rights abuses and corruption don't stop.

LIberia is a war-torn country, where over 250,000 of its citizens were killed during decades of civil war. Despots have plundered and pillaged Liberia into abject ruin with impunity. Williams concludes his article with a sobering message to the world community:

It is, therefore, unfortunate that Liberia appears to be slipping back into the dark days reminiscent of the eras of brutal dictators Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor, respectively. As was the case during the two despotic regimes, it appears that the police and other state security apparatus are being used as instruments of state terror to suppress dissent and stifle democratic governance.

Against this background, it is imperative that the international community engage the Liberian government and stakeholders to prevent another bloodbath in Liberia, as well as to put the country back on a course of peace and progress.

Congressman Chris Smith is a beacon of light whose efforts need rapid and relentless support globally to help reverse the looming catastrophe. Rep. Smith's statement can be found at https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406287. I encourage everyone to read about and follow closely the events in LIberia. Please contact Rep. Smith and the House Subcommittee on Africa to support and inspire a robust global response that will hopefully motivate global governments, media, and concerned citizens to demand increased accountability and resolution in LIberia so the suffering can end.

Nigeria's Middle Belt: the Silence of the Christians

Since doing this blog on-and-off over the past year (Murphy's Law is really real), I continue to find myself drawn to the constant drumbeat from thought leaders throughout the African continent whose drums beat loudly in unison around the message of moral leadership, government integrity, and moral transformation in Africa. With prolonged sectarian violence resulting in genocidal conditions, Nigeria seems to be one of the more outspoken countries when it comes to the issues of morality, leadership, and government.

In the July 12th article at dailypost.ng titled, UK report indicts Buhari Govt over alleged killing of Christians, makes shocking revelations, the pathology of Nigeria's turmoil is laid bare to the world. At its core are the pervasive problems of religious persecution, inaction, indifference, and complicity in what many are calling genocide in Nigeria. The article clearly chronicles these hellish conditions, which the author captures in the following:

The “intensification of conflict” in Nigeria in recent years comes at a time when Christians in the country have suffered some of the worst atrocities inflicted on Churchgoers anywhere in the world. Since 2009, Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group in “allegiance” with Daesh (ISIS) extremists in Iraq and Syria, has 424 “inflicted mass terror on civilians, killing 20,000 Nigerians, kidnapping thousands and displacing nearly two million”.425 The kidnapping of “mostly Christian girls”426 from a school in Chibok north-east Nigeria in April 2014 and the forced “conversions” to Islam of many of the students, demonstrated the anti-Christian 427 agenda of the militants.

The reader quickly comes to grips with the realities of Nigeria's Middle Belt, a region replete with torture, kidnappings, and killings, where over 20,000 Nigerians have been murdered since 2009! Amid the carnage and bloodshed, the silence from the world community is as disturbing as it is deafening. News coverage has been scant, and international leaders offer no floor speeches, resolutions, or in-country meetings on behalf of persecuted Nigerian Christians. One would think that at least religious leaders or ecumenical organizations would champion Nigeria's cause under the banner of human rights, but silence prevails here too.

Ethnic and religious conflict has been a part of Nigeria's history far too long, but as Eniola Anuoluwapo Soyemi writes in her 2016 article that appeared in The Conversation,

Failures of a weak state are to blame for Nigeria’s ethnicity problem, the problem begins and ends with the State and the government's inability to enact policies that facilitate cultural and ethnic trust among its many demographic groups. This is a compelling article that offers a excellent analysis as reflected in the passage below.

Although ethnicity is far from being a uniquely Nigerian phenomenon, it presents a serious challenge to Nigeria’s stability.

If we are to believe Robert Putnam’s thesis on national cohesion, trust is at the very centre of any successfully functioning society. But this trust is something that nation after nation, and country after country, has always had to build. And in Nigeria’s case, an inability to take nation-building seriously has enabled the persistence of the country’s ethnic divisions.

Ethnic divisions persist in countries like Nigeria not because the “cultures” of those countries are predisposed to ethnic strife, but as a result of a weak state. It is a weak state that has, up until now, been incapable of capitalising on policies that enhance and benefit a singular Nigerian national identity.

Countries like Nigeria, which has more than 250 ethnic groups and more than 500 spoken languages, are tautologically explained to simply be too “culturally” heterogeneous to ever be cohesive. It does not help that often “culture” takes on any and whatever meaning the user wishes to imply.

Sadly, where the Nigerian state does make an impact on the lives of individuals, these benefits are rarely in the provision of public goods available to all without consideration to wealth, gender, or ethnicity. Instead, it is in the provision of narrow economic benefits to individuals with personal links to specific actors in government.

As such, the socioeconomic importance of ethnic ties is maintained, and so is ethnic-based mistrust.

Soyemi convincincingly captures the essence of Nigeria's complex socioeconomic situation, and deeply rooted in this turmoil are the problems of religious intolerance and religious persecution. From world leaders to the global faith-community, the silence of the Christians worldwide must be broken to shed light on the atrocities in Nigeria's Middle Belt and to elevate everyone's moral expectations and moral outrage to effectuate change for the common good. Thankfully, Catholic bishops in Nigeria are challenging the government to reform and respond in meaningful ways. Ultimately, if conditions continue to deteriorate, church leaders globally must descend upon Nigeria as the collective Christian voice to defend religious freedom and to overwhelm inhumanity with boldness and the power of purpose in efforts to restore order and rebuild the walls of Nigeria, socially, politically, economically, and spiritually (1).

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1. "Rebuild the Walls" is a direct reference to the biblical story of the prophet Nehemiah and his vision to move Jerusalem from desolation to restoration. See Nehemiah 1:1-7; 2: 4-5, 17-18.