Chuks Oyema-Aziken
The Federal Government has flagged off two national programmes aimed at controlling emissions from generators and vehicles.
Flagging off the National Generator Emission Control Programme (NGECP) and the National Vehicular Emission Control Programme (NVECP) in Abuja on Monday, Minister of Environment, Barr. Muhammad Abdullahi, said the schemes, put in place through National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), are geared towards achieving a cleaner and healthier environment.
“The air we breathe is one of the most important things around us, and it is a vital natural resource on which all life depends. Clean air is something that we all need for good health and the well-being of humans, animals, and plants. Sadly, our atmosphere is being continuously polluted.
“According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in the year 2016, ambient air pollution was responsible for 4.2 million deaths Worldwide, and it is estimated to cause about 16% of the lung cancer deaths, 25% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 17% of ischemic heart disease and stroke, and about 26% of respiratory infection deaths.
“This is in addition to the numerous environmental problems induced by air pollutants such as acid rain, ozone layer depletion, global warming etc. Scientists predict that global temperatures are expected to continue to rise as a result of increased emissions of GHGs into the atmosphere, thus resulting into global warming which affect weather patterns causing, among other problems, prolonged drought or increased flooding in some regions and ultimately bring about climate change,” he said.
The minister said such ugly developments have prompted calls to reduce air pollution, adding that the over 12,000,000 vehicles plying the nation’s roads and the regular use of generators are contributing massively to air pollution, hence, the government’s move to check their emissions.
“Demand for electricity in Nigeria is currently increasing more above the supply from the national grid. A significant proportion of this shortfall is met with onsite generating sets (gensets) at consumer locations; some of these gensets operating between 15-18 hours a day (NBS, SMEDAN 2010). The market consists of gensets of varying quality and prices. Unfortunately, these diesel gensets contribute emissions of fine particulate matter (PM), including black carbon, which derives from the incomplete combustion of diesel (as occurs in many diesel gensets),” Abdullahi said.
Speaking further, the minister said the two programmes would be implemented through Public Private Partnership (PPP).
“The NGCP and the NVECP, are strategies aimed at cutting down emissions of pollutants from generators (stationary source) as well as vehicles (mobile source).
“The programmes would be implemented under PPP and will involve periodic (annual) testing of the generators and vehicles for toxic and greenhouses 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 two programmes (NVECP, and NGECP) in Nigeria.
“The implementation of the NGECP would be starting with power generating sets of capacity from 10 kva and above, while for NVECP the lowest limit would be Euro III emission standard as agreed at the ECOWAS regional level,” the minister added.
On his part, the Director General/Chief Executive Officer of NESREA, Professor Aliyu Jauro, who commended the minister and the National Assembly for their support for the agency, said the emissions control programmes would go a long way in ensuring a healthy environment
“Motor vehicles and generators, use fossil fuel and pollute the air, making it very hazardous when you breathe it and bringing a lot of medical issues like asthma,” adding that “the programmes are put in place to ensure emissions from these sources are within a specified limit in order to protect the environment.”
On possible sanction for individuals whose vehicles or generators are causing a lot of emissions, Jauro said such provisions are captured under the schemes’ regulations but NESREA is focused in ensuring the right thing is done.
“The regulations put in place have provisions for sanctions, but when a vehicle fails a test, we will give the owner time to go and fix it,” the NESREA boss said.
