AN INVESTIGATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION IN NIGERIA: ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
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BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Nigeria, which can be found in West Africa, spans a total of 983,213 square kilometers throughout its landmass. According to estimates provided by the World Bank, the country now has an estimated population of more than 150 million people, which results in an average density of more than 120 people per square kilometer. The contemporary types of industrial activity are a comparatively new phenomenon in the annals of Nigeria's long and eventful history of economic growth. As there was no contemporary manufacturing activity in Nigeria during the pre-colonial period, the country possessed a significant craft sector. The start of the Second World War and the aftermath of it brought about enormous upheaval to the economy of Nigeria, and at the same time, there was an increase in the need for industrial raw materials in Europe. As time passed, a pattern of assembly-type import substitution emerged as the dominant mode of industrial growth because of the inadequate technical foundation (Abumere, 2022). Nevertheless, the country's achievement of political self-determination in 1960 opened the door to the possibility of enhancing its strategy of import substitution and developing its potentials for a genuine economic takeoff via the production of capital goods. Before the discovery of crude oil in Oloibiri, Rivers State in 1956, the primary sector of the Nigerian economy was agriculture. This remained the case until the year 1970. The oil boom that occurred in the 1970s led to a significant rise in the number of industrial pursuits that were carried out. Due to the availability of financial resources from oil and the absence of a development agenda, urbanization and industrialisation occurred without any direction. This growth was very desired and essential; yet, it became a burden not because of the development itself but rather because there were not sufficient environmental protection measures in place to direct it. The upshot was the placement of factories without consideration for their impact on the surrounding ecosystem, which led to the destruction of forests and the expansion of deserts. The processing technique used in several of these sectors often produced levels of hazardous waste and effluent emissions that were in excess of what was considered acceptable. The culmination of these events was the destruction of the ecosystem as well as the occurrence of terrible ecological and human catastrophes. As a consequence of these factors, the need that industrial growth go hand in hand with environmental conservation emerged. Following this, pieces of legislation for the preservation of the environment, sometimes known as environmental laws, were made law. The researcher, on the other hand, wants to provide an overview of the various environmental pollution issues, as well as the difficulties that have been encountered in developing an efficient environmental enforcement program and the potential solutions that have been proposed by the government in order to address these issues (Acho, 2021). In the area of Nigeria known as the Niger Delta, oil production is both the main driver of the country's economy and the principal contributor to serious environmental and social issues. Oil exploration, production, and refining in Nigeria have led to a variety of environmental and ecological concerns throughout the course of the country's history. These issues include oil spills, gas flares, the loss of habitat, air and water pollution, and the deterioration of land. Also, the operations of illegal oil bunkering and illegal refineries conducted by natives and certain highly placed persons in government are a significant contributor to the oil pollution in that same area. These activities are responsible for a significant amount of the pollution. It is common for the chemical qualities of spilled oil to have an effect on the productiveness of the soil and to contaminate water bodies, which in turn causes damage that is irreversible to agricultural lands as well as aquatic bodies. Gas flaring is a serious environmental and economic concern in Nigeria, and the country's yearly carbon dioxide emissions are around 70 million metric tons (Agbola,2021). This has a negative impact on the surrounding communities' socioeconomic activities, which are mostly reliant on agricultural and fishing industries (Agukoronye, 2022). It is estimated that flaring alone is responsible with 49 early deaths, 5000 respiratory diseases among children, and around 120,000 asthma episodes and 8 new causes of cancer each year in only one part of the Niger Delta (Environmental Rights Action and the Climate Justice Programme).
Water contamination is yet another significant environmental problem that is plaguing Nigeria. According to Areola (2022), the primary contributor to the water pollution problem in Nigeria is the country's extensive forestry industry. Deforestation and inappropriate soil tillage methods both contribute to a rise in the concentration of soil particles that find their way into water bodies, which in turn leads to an increase in the sediment loads in those water bodies. Another significant contributor to Nigeria's pollution problem is the dumping of waste products from industrial processes into bodies of water. The contents of sulfates and nitrates in water bodies have increased as a result of discharges from industries such as petroleum, mining, iron and steel, pharmaceuticals, and textiles, amongst others. Additionally, the properties of water bodies, such as color and odor, have been altered as a result of these discharges (Aribigbola, 2020). Both the water bodies and the soils become more poisonous as a result of the presence of these metals and other chemical substances. A significant number of people in Nigeria get the majority of the water they use in their homes, including for drinking and cooking, from ponds, streams, and shallow wells. As a result, water pollution is a significant public health problem that puts the lives of around 40 million people at danger from a variety of infectious illnesses, including cholera, dysentery, diarrhea, and typhoid (Aribigbola, 2020). Waste from both households and industries has been a significant contributor to the environmental degradation that has occurred in Nigeria. In most of Nigeria's metropolitan regions, significant environmental and aesthetic issues are brought about by the incorrect dumping of municipal solid trash and industrial garbage as well as inadequate management of both types of waste. As a result of excessive population and the development of slums, the majority of municipal districts now produce more trash than they are able to effectively manage (Bain, 2022). Because of this, rubbish piles have accumulated in "many spots, obstructing roadways and making travel impossible along alleyways and footpaths" (Aribigbola, 2020). In Nigeria, the most prevalent approach to the disposal of trash is the transportation of rubbish from one location to another, followed by incineration. The first method entails moving debris from an area with a greater perceived aesthetic value to an area with a lower value. This movement takes place from one region to another. The practice of incinerating garbage as a means of waste disposal often contributes to environmental degradation as a consequence of the emission of gases and other particulate matter, including carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, halogenated carbons, and others.
It is necessary for the government to enact and implement necessary environmental laws in order to control the issues of environmental pollution. This can be done by putting in place the necessary environmental pollution enforcement structures in order to curb the spate of environmental pollution in Nigeria. There is a need for the government to do so.
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