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Having come from Nigeria, pollution is not merely some hypothetical concept you read about in books but the harsh reality right before your eyes every time you step out and open your door in the morning. As a 21-year-old who has witnessed firsthand how our surroundings have deteriorated with each passing year, I think I have to make my voice heard regarding this significant issue that touches us all.
Pollution, to my mind, simply means the fouling of our natural environment with dangerous materials that interfere with the proper operation of ecosystems and cause serious health hazards to humans. It's when our air gets full of smoke, our water bodies become dumping sites, and our land gets covered with trash that does not rot. But outside this textbook definition, pollution is also a reflection of our people's inability to respect and protect the environment that sustains us.
I don't have to look far to see pollution's destructive power. In my own neighborhood, the evidence is right in front of me. The Lakes, otherwise the play and pride areas of everyone, are trash dumps where plastic soda bottles, food packs, and even electronic garbage drift listlessly on the surface. The stench that wafts from some areas of the lakes during the dry months is overpowering.
I was just walking through a market last month when I observed how the drainage system was completely clogged by plastic bags, creating stagnant pools of filthy water that are breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other disease vectors. The vendors had already accepted this as the norm, conducting their business while navigating around contaminated water puddles.
The quality of air in most areas is equally bad. In rush hours, the combination of automobile exhaust gases, office and shop generator exhaust gases, and construction dust creates a thick haze that is difficult to breathe. My younger siblings and I have noticed that we often get a scratch in our throats, and are constantly coughing, especially during the harmattan when dust is combined with other pollutants.
The health issues are probably the most frightening consequence of pollution. In our part of the globe, respiratory diseases have become much more common, and particularly amongst children and the aged.
Pollution of water has made clean drinking water a luxury and not a universal right. Ours is not the exception; most homes in my area, including mine at times, have had to endure waterborne illnesses like typhoid and cholera. The irony is a haunting one: we live surrounded by water bodies and yet cannot make it easy to get access to clean drinking water.
The impact on the environment is just as devastating. I've seen how plants in areas with severe pollution slowly wither away, leaving desolate areas of land. The diversity that once existed in areas such as the fringes of the FCT has decreased immensely. Birds that previously nested in specific areas have vanished, and fish stocks in our bodies of water have dropped considerably.
While all forms of pollution are apocalyptic, I believe that plastic pollution is the most dangerous thing we're currently facing. You might find this ridiculous given how obviously detrimental air and water pollution are, but hear me out.
Plastic pollution is insidious in that it affects all the other forms of pollution. When plastics clog our sewerage, they also aggravate water pollution by preventing water circulation and becoming breeding grounds for pathogenic bacteria. When plastics are burned, as often occurs in backyard dump disposal methods, they produce toxic smoke that becomes part of air pollution. When they are buried in dump yards or land-dumped, they prevent soil breathing and destroy plant life.
What is so maddening about plastic pollution is how avoidable it is, and yet how ingrained in our day-to-day lives. From the clean water sachets that we purchase on the street corner to the bags that we use as sacks at the market, plastics have become so convenient that we've forgotten their long-term impacts. Plastic pollution is a problem that unlike other types of pollution that may need to be addressed by way of elaborate industrial remedies, is one that every person contributes to and can contribute to solving.
Halting pollution is a multi-faceted effort that must occur at the government, corporate, and individual level. From where I am sitting as a young Nigerian, these are solutions that I believe will actually work:
Education and Awareness: We need massive awareness programs involving more than just reminding people pollution is a bad thing. People need to be educated on the direct causality between their regular day-to-day actions and environmental degradation. Schools need to incorporate interactive environmental studies where students can learn by observing and measuring pollution in their nearby surroundings.
Waste Management Revolution: Our current system of waste management is either non-existent or poor in most regions. Investment in effective waste collection, sorting, and disposal facilities is the order of the day. Even more significant is to embrace the philosophy of reducing waste at the source. This includes promoting reusable items over single-use plastic items and providing incentives to companies that utilize eco-friendly packaging.
Policy Enforcement: Even though we do have environmental legislation, the enforcement of laws is lax or intermittent. There should be harsher punishment meted out to individuals and companies who pollute, and such punishments should be handed down without regard to social class or economic clout.
Economic Incentives: We need to make being green financially attractive. This could include tax breaks for companies that adopt clean technologies, subsidies for the use of renewable energy, and even modest charges for individuals who recycle their rubbish properly or participate in recycling programs.
Alternative Energy Solutions: As a result of our electricity problems, companies and people are using generators extensively, and they are significant causes of air pollution. This usage can be reduced by investing in alternative energy in the form of solar energy, hence creating employment opportunities for youth such as me.
Being young Nigerians, we have a role and a platform to address pollution in a distinctive way. We are the age group to bear the worst of the consequences of today's environmental decisions but the age group best positioned to bring about change by using technology and innovation.
I've seen young entrepreneurs create apps for waste collection, develop biodegradable alternatives to plastic products, and carry out environmental campaigns that reach tens of thousands of followers on social media. We have the passion, creativity, and technical expertise to come up with solutions that older individuals might not think of.
The battle against pollution starts at home. I've made personal promises that are small but feel significant to me. I carry a refillable water bottle instead of buying pure sachets of water. I walk or use public transport if accessible rather than contributing to car emissions. When I see litter in my area, I pick it up even if I'm not the one who dropped it.
These steps by themselves won't solve our pollution issue, but they are a change in attitude that I believe we desperately need. If we all alter our attitude and encourage others to do it as well, then we can have the cultural shift needed to allow us to accomplish the larger environmental action projects.
It's our choice, and the time is now.
