The Federal Government on Monday inaugurated new programmes to curb air pollution largely caused by the transport sector in the country.
The programmes are: National Emissions Control Programmes (NECP), Generator Emission Control Programme (NGECP), and Vehicular Emission Control Programme (NVECP).
The Minister of Environment, Muhammed Abdullahi, who spoke at the unveiling of the programme in Abuja, said the transport sector has been identified as the major source of air pollution in Nigeria.
He said the exercise is being organised by the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA).
Abdullahi urged relevant stakeholders to support the Federal Government’s effort for effective implementation of the programmes.
According to him, it is worthy of note that road transportation in Nigeria with over 12 million vehicles plying the roads is playing a key role in the socio-economic development of the country.
“Unfortunately, despite significant advances in fuel efficiency and emissions reduction, the transport sector remains one of the major sources of air pollution in Nigeria.
“Meanwhile, considering the magnitude of air pollution on the environment and human health, NESREA cannot do the work alone; stakeholders’ involvement is required for effective implementation of the programmes.
“The stakeholders are all key in the implementation process; therefore, we are calling on all of you including the general public to join hands with NESREA in ensuring a cleaner and healthier environment.
“We all stand to benefit from the programmes, environmentally and economically but, we must first cultivate the seeds now so that we, as well as our future generations can reap the harvest. Together we ensure sustainable development and make our country great,” he said.
Unfortunately, despite significant advances in fuel efficiency and emissions reduction, the transport sector remains one of the major sources of air pollution in Nigeria.
Air quality
The Minister, who expressed concern over the indiscriminate use of power generators for both domestic and industrial purposes, said the trend contributes to the poor air quality in the environment.
He said the situation not only affects the environment negatively but also human health by increasing the quantity of harmful pollutants.
Quoting the World Health Organisation (WHO), Abdullahi said in 2016, ambient air pollution is responsible for 4.2 million deaths worldwide.
“It is estimated to cause about 16% of lung cancer deaths, 25% of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), about 17% of ischemic heart disease and stroke, and about 26% of respiratory infection deaths,” he said.
Abdullahi also called for more support from the international organisations towards combating air pollution, noting that it is one of the greatest health and environmental challenges.
He said the programmes have been designed to address the emissions from mobile and stationary sources as well as cutting down emissions of pollutants from generators’ stationary source and vehicles’ mobile source.
The programmes, he said, would be implemented under Public Private Partnerships (PPP), and involve periodic testing of the generators and vehicles for toxic and greenhouse gases emissions.
“In this strategy, the responsibility of NESREA will be to set national emission standards and to develop a reliable national database management system for all emissions data generated from the programmes.
“The implementation of the NGECP will be starting with power generating sets of capacity from 10 KVA and above, while for the NVECP, the lowest limit will be Euro III emissions standard as agreed at the ECOWAS regional level,” he said.
The Minister said part of the NESREA’s mandate is to support the implementation of the Paris Agreement as spelt out in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Abdullahi added that the objective of the programme is to create public awareness on indiscriminate use of ill-maintained generators and vehicles, their environmental and health implications.
He also said the programmes, among others, are aimed at generating data on vehicular and generator emissions to improve the air quality of the country.
The Director-General of the NESREA, Prof. Aliyu Jauro, said the Federal Government is concerned about environmental problems and is not relenting efforts in curbing the threats.
He said the vision of the Agency is to ensure a cleaner and healthier environment, adding that NESREA has recorded numerous milestones over the decades on environmental governance.
Also speaking, Assistant Director, Directorate of Road Traffic Services, Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO), Awwal Nakata, assured of the agency’s continuing support to NESREA to ensure effective implementation of the programmes. (NAN)
