ONYEDI GABRIEL, Port Harcourt
The Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals has denied allegations in some quarters that its operations are contributing to the soot in Rivers State.
The firm explained that its closed system of operation was not capable of producing soot within its environment in Rivers State.
The firm further said it supplied fertilizer to over 32 million farmers in the country closing the demand gap, which the country hitherto spent N7bn on importation annually.
Conducting journalists round its facility and operational stages in Port Harcourt on Monday, the Head, Corporate Communications of Indorama, Jossy Nkwocha, said such a closed system would never allow emission of soot.
Nwkocha noted that the firm remained proactive on issues affecting the environment, saying the company’s activities were open to public scrutiny.
He said: “We have invited this calliber of journalists to this facility because we believe in being proactive. We believe that we are an open book. We don’t have anything. We invited you because of the raging issues of soot.
“Last week, we invited the radio people to come because we were accused of generating soot. Our response has always been to bring them to come and see for themselves.
“We have invited you as a third party to see what we are doing. Indorama does not emit soot whatsoever. There is no soot in Indorama. We have not been accused of soot officially, but because of the rumour here and there we decided to bring you in.”
Nwkocha said that soot was a product of incomplete combustion, emphasising that the firm maintained a facility that monitored and controlled emission.
He said: “Soot is a product of incomplete combustion. We have a facility that we control and monitor our emissions into the environment.
“We subject our facility to an audit quarterly. We bring in the auditing team from the agencies of government. If our facility was emitting soot government would have known.”
He said Indorama was being monitored by the Federal Ministry of Health in the state and the federal level, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency and others.
He said the firm would also invite Non-Governmental Organizations working on environment, Head of Departments of Environments at the state and federal levels to visit the facility for assessment of its operations.
Nkwocha said the firm produces 3,000,000 metric tons of fertilizers annually and supplied to over 32 million farmers.
He said that the company contributed hugely to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country, adding that over 7000 workers were employed by the company.