Nigeria lacks guidelines on radiation, says EHSAN president

Increase in funding, change of attitude towards the environment and more advocacy are necessary changes which the Environmental Health Scientists Association of Nigeria (EHSAN) want in Nigeria’s environment space, even as it was revealed that Nigeria lacks guidelines on radiation.

Speaking with journalists at the sidelines during the association’s recent Conference on Environmental Health Sciences, hosted by the Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Public Health, University of Ibadan, National President of EHSAN, Dr Godson Ana, said,“We must change our attitude towards the environment. Our environmental attitude is very poor. Our practices are very modicum. The climate is changing, but we need to help ourselves to stay alive and healthy.

“For some of the things we are doing to the environment like polluting the air, burning refuse, by and large, we are the ones at the receiving end. So, we should learn to help preserve the environment. We must ensure that we do not endanger the environment because invariably human lives will go for it. People become sick or die because the pollutants we are talking about are killing.

“We need to form pressure groups so that we mount pressure on government and other interest groups and stakeholders to appropriate more funds for environment. Prevention is better than cure. We don’t need to wait for the outbreak of diseases like ebola, lassa fever. We can take preventative measures; we must prevent air pollution, water pollution so that we don’t have airborne, waterborne or other diseases.”

Dr Ana added that “We need more funds for research, environmental advocacy campaigns, policy development and policy implementation. And above all, more funds for capacity building, because environmental issues are still young in the country. We need more technocrats. We are still depending a lot on the international community. Most of the guidelines here are moribund. We need to have more guidelines that are domiciled here, that are localised and that reflect what happens in Nigeria.

“These include guidelines on air quality, water quality, on noise pollution. As I speak, we do not have guidelines on radiation, and these things matter. We need to domesticate these guidelines to reflect the Nigerian environment.”

The environmental health sciences conference was organised to increase awareness on, deepen knowledge for and stimulate action towards various primordial and emerging issues of environmental health for the purpose of ensuring environmental quality and safeguarding public health through evidence sharing from basic, applied and translational research.