The Director-General, Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), Dr. Muhtari Aminu-Kano, says Nigeria needs strident anti-pollution laws to curb the release and spread of dangerous pollutants into the air.
He noted that more than 10 per cent of the total deaths in the world were caused by air pollution, noting that tree planting is one of the measures in reducing air pollution.
Aminu-Kano, who stated this at an event organised by the NCF to commemorate this year’s World Environment Day (WED) with the theme, ‘Beat Air Pollution,’ said Nigeria has the most polluted air in Africa because of its huge population.
The DG said, “Emissions from different transport modes, the burning of fossil fuels, industrial production, forest fires, are very hazardous to health. Air is naturally clean and safe but because of chemicals emissions it becomes constantly polluted.”
He said as human activities against the environment increased, Nigeria would be at the risk of recording more deaths caused by air pollution except something urgent was done to reverse the trend.
“We can use efficient transport by enforcing a law that will ban vehicles that emit too much carbon monoxide. Such vehicles should not be on the road, thereby people will be forced to consider other options,” he said.
“You can create friendly way that people can move, by making it easier for people to ride bicycles in cities like Lagos. You can also make industries to pollute less by coming up with laws to curb air pollution,” he stated.
Aminu-Kano stressed the need for all and sundry to play their roles in protecting the environment, saying air pollution is a crime against the environment.
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