• Together with the Summit planning committee, plan, organize, and host the two-day CHARTING A PATH TOWARDS A SOOT-FREE RIVERS STATE Summit in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
 
• Work with Centre for Environment, Human Rights, and Development (CEHRD) and Environmental Rights Action (ERA) to identify Summit speakers, including facilitating their participation in the Summit.
 
• Ensure that all presentations, discussions, including pre- and post-planning meetings, and recommendations from the Summit are compiled into a report of publishable quality for publication by CIDI in collaboration with TrustAfrica/Kiisi Trust Fund.
 
• Work with the Summit planning committee to ensure recommendations and action steps are carried out in a timely fashion. This includes coordinating a coalition of stakeholders who would mount pressure on relevant government agencies until action is taken to end the soot issue in Port Harcourt.

According to the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program, Mr. Erik Solheim, “pollution is a universal challenge that threatens wildlife, devastates ecosystems and kills millions of people.” Air pollution kills more than 6 million people every year, most of these deaths occurring in Africa and Asia. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) says air pollution is fundamentally altering our climate with a profound impact on our planet’s health and sustainability. The agency describes air pollution as “the biggest environmental health risk of our time.”

Since 2016, residents of Port Harcourt, Eleme, and other adjoining towns and villages in Rivers state have observed an increase in the daily blanketing of the atmosphere of an oily soot compound, causing serious concern to the 3 million people who reside in the state. Health professionals around the state have reported an uptick in cases of acute and chronic respiratory diseases and skin lesions in infants and young children. They have also noticed a higher mortality rate in individuals with pre-existing ischemic heart problems or obstructive pulmonary diseases.

Residents of the state have not been quiet. They have been mobilizing, utilizing radio and social media platforms to inspire action by government and other relevant stakeholders. In response, the Rivers State Ministry of Environment set up an expert panel to investigate the composition of the soot and its source in early 2016. Unfortunately, since then there has been no report back on the findings of the expert panel to the public. This silence prompted further action by residents and concerned citizens to organize a one-day workshop at the University of Port Harcourt in April 2017 to further discuss the root cause of the black soot in Port Harcourt, including brainstorming on strategies and tactics to resolve the matter. Again, however, no concrete action or follow-up from this workshop was developed.

Local environmental-focused NGOs and CBOs have come together to organize and hold a two-day summit with the aim of creating a template for a systematic, coordinated, result oriented and science-based approach to dealing with the soot in Rivers state in the short, medium and long terms. The summit will be held in Port Harcourt and will have the added advantage of having international institutions with varied experiences in addressing air pollution as key stakeholders in the process. International institutions such as UNEP and WHO can play critical roles in convincing our governments to adopt best practices and policies that would reduce air pollution as well as bring their expertise and financial support in aid of steps taken by our government.