Nigeria and other West African countries have kicked against the negative consequences of the use of high sulphur fuels particularly diesel, which has become a source of emission in the sun region.
Speaking at a high level ministerial meeting on low sulphur fuels in Abuja, the Minister of Environment, Hajiya Amina Mohammed, said it was common knowledge that emission from transport posed several environmental and health related challenges which needed to be addressed urgently.
She noted that though most countries have shown much progress in reducing air pollution by moving to ultra-low sulphur fuels, those in West Africa appear to be the main sub region where fuels with high sulphur content are in high use despite the low sulphur crude that the sub region is endowed with.
Immediate action, Hajiya Amina said should be taken on imported fuel products in the sub region.
The minister who also decried the alarming rate of very high sulphur in Nigeria’s fuel, said, “We do not have a standard in Nigeria, so we will put the standard in place and also see how we can bring in a cleaner technology so that there can be compliance by the refineries.
“There is no doubt that there will be challenges that will affect the full implementation of low sulphur fuels, particularly with respect to the products from our refineries. It is therefore expedient to give some reasonable time for them to upgrade to be able to produce the required quality of fuels,” she said.
She, however, implored that the national air quality standards and vehicles import policies within the sub-region be reviewed to ensure minimum impact of air emissions on climate change, human health and the economy.
The minister maintained that the federal government would continue to work towards the realization of the objectives and partner with the relevant stakeholders, both national and international, to enhance air quality.
However, the chief executive officer of the National Petroleum Authority of Ghana, Moses Ataga, called for a clear and implementable way forward on how all ECOWAS member states can work together to develop and implement a sub-regional fuel specification.
He said such move would give them the bargaining power to import the same quality of fuel without having to bear the cost of additional logistics, which sometimes came up when a single country wanted a specific type of fuel quality.
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