Watch short documentary film on the soot crisis in Port Harcourt

chibumga izuzu

April 5, 2018 12:25 PM

Nigerian filmmaker, Ifeoma N Chukwuogo, has released a short documentary film on the soot crisis in Port Harcourt.

Nigerian filmmaker,

Titled "Collateral Damage," the documentary draws attention to the environmental damage being caused by the soot in the city as a result of illegal refineries.

"I worry about countless residents at risk of cancer, diseases. My parents, both in their 60s inhaling toxins everyday. Our government is watching silently as we die," Chukwuogo wrote as she shared the documentary on Twitter.

In late 2016, residents of the city raised alarm over the soot. The government in December of the same year, urged the public not to panic, and set up a task force to investigate the matter. It stopped for a month, only to return worse than it was.

In 2017, residents raised alarm again as the soot was, this time, finding its way into their homes. As usual, the government set up a task force, and after the government shut down a Chinese Asphalt Plant, the soot stopped.

However, it returned again early 2018. Currently, residents of the city are using the hashtag #StopTheSoot to share photographs of their hands, offices and feet covered in the dust.

They are alsopetitioning the federal government to #StopTheSoot.

You can sign the petition here.

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