INDISCRIMINATE burning of refuse, low involvement in tree planting, use of rickety vehicles, fuming generators, and a general poor attitude towards the environment are some reasons air pollution has been rising. While government should set up air quality monitoring stations and train relevant manpower, a change of attitude that will result in a positive action towards the environment by the general public is needed to beat air pollution.
This is according to Professor Godson Ana, who delivered the keynote address when the Environmental Health Sciences Department, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan marked the 2019 World Environment Day (WED) celebration recently at Paul Hendricks Hall, University College Hospital, Ibadan.
Professor Ana’s address was on the theme: “Air pollution and Global Burden of Diseases: How far have we gone with the Cleaner Air Initiative?”
He stated during his lecture that cooking emissions, generator emissions and automobile emissions affect lung functions of women, generator users and traffic wardens respectively.
Professor Ana added that air pollution results in photochemical smog, smoky atmosphere, acid rain, ozone layer depletion. Air pollution also affects plant yield and human body functions.
The national president, Environmental Health Officers Association of Nigeria (EHSAN) noted that children are the worst victims of the current air pollution crisis, adding that their mental abilities are compromised due to air pollutants.
As solutions, he said government should improve power supply to reduce generator usage, and set up an efficient public mass transit system for air pollution from automobiles which are major contributors to reduce.
“There is a need for government to ensure that we have air quality monitoring stations and qualified manpower in the field of air quality monitoring. This action by government will help provide a clear picture of the magnitude of air pollution taking places in cities across the country, so that appropriate measures can be taken to mitigate the crisis.
“This is what government should do, while the masses should change their attitude towards the environment.”
Earlier in the programme, the Acting Head of the Environmental Health Sciences Department, Dr Oladapo Okareh, situated the severity of air pollution to warrant it being the theme of the 2019 WED. Referencing United Nations statistics, he stated in his welcome address that 92 per cent of the world’s population do not breathe clean air. Also, ground-level ozone pollution is expected to reduce staple crop yields by 26 per cent globally in 2030.
“Any day, any time, we are exposed to air as it is ubiquitous,” Okareh said.
He lamented that people have chosen “to remain complacent and inactive about protecting the environment” despite having knowledge of what pollutes the environment and how to protect it.
“Therefore, the Department of Environmental Health Sciences is fostering a mission of developing strong partnership with relevant professional bodies of allied and basic medical health sciences through establishment of more academic programmes that will produce global scientists in these fields and filling the gaps of an infused professionals with strong scientific background.”
Dr Olufunmilayo Fawole, the Dean of the Faculty of Public Health, said air pollution was one of several problems Nigeria faces which people do not talk about, and called for more attention on the issue.
The programme was attended by NESREA officials, students of the department, primary and secondary school students, academics and members of Kube Atenda community in Oyo State.
World Environment Day is celebrated globally every June 5. This year’s global theme is “Beat air pollution.”
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