Blessing Iruoma, Port Harcourt
A group under the aegis of Media Awareness and Justice Initiative (MAJI) has set up air pollution monitoring mechanism to tackle the ongoing hydrocarbon soot pollution in Port Harcourt and other parts of Rivers State.
Executive Director of MAJI, Onyekachi Okoro, who spoke at a one day interactive session on air quality monitoring, data collection and engagement, in Port Harcourt, said the mechanism known as Datacab, was focus on information.
He said the Datacab was majorly about using ICT and key environmental tools to create change in the rural communities.
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Okoro explained that data from the site which is borne out of adequate air quality monitoring, was open for members of the public to access accurate information on the level of soot pollution in Rivers State.
“Datacab is focus on using a small information to educate CSOs and communities to create needed social awareness for environmental impact, on a particular focused towards Oil spills and air quality monitoring in Rivers State.
“The portal over the period of four months have developed to collect air quality information. To do that we have installed air quality monitors in several locations across Rivers State, and this monitors brings PM 2.5rhythms to the online portal.
“PM2.5rhythm is what we generally called black soot. And this black soot is what have been plaguing Rivers State and it’s being caused by artisanal refining, oil spills and gas flaring.
“The pm2.5rhythm that we have been trying to identify and document is what is being sent to the site. The site is open for everybody to use. It has information on the level of 2.5pm rhythms, it has information on the location, the temperature, the humidity and level of pollution in these places.
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“It does an average of these rhythms over a period of time and if as a CSO you intend to collect an information over a long period of time, you can download it in excel and use that in your day to day campaigns.”
MAJI further disclosed that with Datacab, the government will know where they need to put their intervention and resources in order to obtain maximum impact.
“This tool will allow the government to know areas where there are high levels of pollution’s or impact. The government has done some work to ensure they reduce the level of pollution or stop the causes of pollution, but they did not have the tool to access which area of high need of that intervention.
“On the people aspect, the people are the ones who also contribute to the oil spills and pollution in Rivers State either through artisanal refining, sabotage on pipelines, burning of tyres, those things that contribute to environmental and climate distortion.
“If this information is out there open, it is easy for people to know areas where there are high level of pollution, understand what the pollution will do to them personally and they now have this internal security level.”