Nigeria’s Air Pollution and Its Dangers By Emmanuel Odekina Iyede

Nigeria has the highest maternal mortality in the world. It’s the country with highest number of extremely poor people in the world and now, it has the highest burden of fatalities from air pollution in Africa and 4th globally.
According to the WHO website, 7 million people die every year from diseases caused by air pollution. Of these 7 million deaths, 100 thousand of them are Nigerians.
The Nigerian government have been fighting a cold war with the recent surge in environmental pollution in Nigeria.
The Nigeria air is about the most polluted in the world despite the fact that there are no corresponding amount of Co2 emissions. The factors responsible for this are not far fetched.
Things like nonchalance attitudes of engineering firms, oil companies, chemical producing companies, cement factories, iron and steel and many others to follow government’s regulations.
Literally, air pollution is choking the life out of Nigerians. Indoors and outdoors, air pollution is killing more urban residents today than ever before.
The air people breathe in Nigeria is more likely to cause harm than the air in any other country in Africa because Nigeria currently has the highest burden of fatalities from air pollution in Africa and 4th highest in the world with 150 deaths per 100,000 people attributable to pollution.
Unfortunately, more than half of Nigerians doesn’t know the dangers and implications of cutting down a tree or setting fire on bushes.
According to the just released annual State of the Global Air Report published by the Health Effects Institute (HEI), air quality in Nigeria and at least 10 other countries is among the deadliest anywhere on earth with higher than ambient air pollution death rates as a result of the environmental hazards combined with extreme pollution sources like generator fumes, vehicle emissions and crop burning among others.
The HEI chart notes that there were 150 deaths per age-standardized deaths per 100,000 people attributable to air pollution in Nigeria in 2016 (the latest year of available data), compared to high industrialised countries like China, 117 deaths per 100,000 people; Russia, 62 deaths per 100,000 people; Germany, 22 deaths per 100,000 people; United Kingdom, 21 deaths per 100,000 people; the United States, 21 deaths per 100,000 people; Japan 13 deaths per 100,000 people and Canada, 12 deaths per 100,000 people.
Only Afghanistan with 406; Pakistan, 207, and India, 195 deaths per 100,000 people per country, exceed the Nigerian figure.
There’s a sharp contrast between the air in Nigeria and the majority of other countries of the world.
We have no other source of air. We must fight to cleanse the elixir of life that God gave us.
Air pollution is hardly listed among causes of death on death certificates in Nigeria, yet the health conditions linked to air pollution exposure, such as lung cancer and emphysema, are often fatal.
According to a 2016 World Health Organisation report, Onitsha, Kaduna, Aba and Umuahia were among four of the 20 African cities with the worst air quality in the world.
The WHO measured air quality by examining the annual mean concentration of particulate matter in nearly 3,000 cities across the world with populations of at least 100,000. Onitsha’s average annual PM10 was 594 – nearly 30 times greater than the WHO-recommended annual level of 20. Kaduna, Aba, and Umuahia cities were ranked among the top 20 worst cities measured by PM10, ranking 8th, 9th, and 19th, respectively.
Air pollution is now the fourth-highest cause of death worldwide, trailing smoking, high blood pressure and diet, with the majority of deaths recorded in poorer nations with India and China leading the world in the total number of deaths attributable to air pollution in 2016 with 1.61 million and 1.58 million respectively. Data from the report show that ambient levels of unsafe air continue to exceed the Air Quality Guideline established by the World Health Organisation, WHO.
In a typical scenario thick clouds of blackened smoke usually envelope large areas within Nigerian city suburbs as many smoky and noisy generators run throughout the day and all night. It’s a routine residents are familiar with – clouds of particulate-tinged smoke spreading, setting the pace for generator-induced illnesses and even death.
Generator fumes comprise a lethal cocktail of poisonous and environmentally unfriendly gases, including carbon monoxide and other noxious products. Carbon monoxide could be a serious health hazard. Indoors or in close proximity, the gas quickly infiltrates living spaces and incapacitates occupants.
All over town, worn out generators and vehicles with poorly-tuned engines are belching out smoke of noxious emissions, making the air as toxic on the streets as it is unhealthy in the kitchen at home where a kerosene stove burns sooty flames almost around the clock. A combination of incomplete combustion and lack of ventilation leads to high concentrations of particulate matter and other pollutants in the home and the resulting burden of household air pollution on human health. Rather than dispose refuse and some other wastes or unwanted materials some Nigerians burn them within their neighborhood.
The problem is also manifesting in the rural areas due to burning of firewood and coal for cooking. Globally the estimated population relying on solid fuels has reduced but Nigeria remains among countries with populations exposed to household air pollution from dependence on solid fuel. Worse still, over 70 percent of the fuel in the country is generated from fossil fuel.
Most Nigerians are thus exposed to household air pollution with fine particulate matter levels exceeding air quality guidelines by as much as 20 times. Air pollution from indoor sources is recognised as the single largest contributor to the negative health effects of air pollution in Nigeria.
Even though the government is making concerted efforts to combat this. There’s need for aggressive education and orientation of the Nigerian people to understand the dangers associated with bush burning, domestic and even industrial effluent discharges, building far away from telecommunication mast according to the standard setbacks and others.
Worthy mentions:
Shola Ogundipe
Vanguard – Lagos
AllAfrica.com