Our world is threatened by a silent killer called pollution; it's quite disturbing to see how we go about our daily lives without noticing the damages pollution is causing, from the air we breathe in to the water we drink. No one is safe, and yet nothing is done to curb this from gaining ground. Its consequences are devastating, negatively affecting our well-being, from respiratory diseases to cancer and several others, even destroying our ecosystem at large, and in this article today I'll be shedding light on the major factor of pollution where I'm based and information that revolves around it.
It's worth noting that I'm a citizen of Nigeria, and that's where I reside as well, Lagos to be precise, and by saying Lagos, I know many of us already have a picture of the fact that Lagos is largely populated. That's very true, as it's plagued with different forms of pollution, from air pollution, water pollution, and noise pollution, and that's not forgetting the human factors that cause it as well. Lagos has the smallest landmass in the entire state in Nigeria, and yet it has the highest population, with over 20 million people playing their trade and staying in that small space. All of these go on to lead to all forms of pollution.
At least ¼ of the entire population has a car or vehicle they drove around the state, and that's not getting the loads of public transport we've got in Lagos, from the BRT to danfo, Uber, and many others. Having all of these on our roads leads to these vehicles causing hazards to our atmosphere. The toxic gas coming out of these vehicles exhaust pollutes our air, which is later breathed in by the people unintentionally or clutters the cloud and falls down back as rain that negatively affects our soil, crops, and the like. It's quite disheartening.
That's not to forget the waste disposal system that has crumbled from the heart of every single individual in our country. Basically, everyone is a menace in this aspect because you'd see both young and old dispose of dirt any way without caring about what such would cause at the end of the day. You find refuse everywhere; those in vehicles buy things and dispose of the trash on the highway; pedestrians do the same even though they can clearly see a waste bin close to them. It's about time we educate ourselves on the dangers of these acts and the benefits neatness and hygiene society would bring to us.
While most parts of Lagos are known to be polluted with different things, it's worth noting that the axis where I live isn't plagued with most of such, as it's on the outskirts of Lagos, outside the busy part that millions of people roam daily. I reside in Epe, and when I saw these, it was quite difficult for me to pinpoint one form of pollution we're facing here, because it doesn't house many industries and neither is it overpopulated to the point where pollution is unavoidable, but then I must say that air pollution is probably one of the ones we're going through here, and that's due to lack of power supply.
Most houses have resolved to using generators, which goes on to cause both noise pollution and release tons of toxic gas into our atmosphere; it's not ideal, and a change needs to be initiated for the last six months of the previous year. We didn't have a power supply, and these made everything worse as people sought alternative ways to get power supply. Even this year, it was just a few weeks ago that the electricity was fixed, and yet not every part has it, so we're presently still facing this pollution, and while fixing all the power would help reduce the use of generators, I don't see it ending anytime soon.
Why I said I don't see the usage of generators that cause noise pollution and toxic gas polluting our air is because I don't see us having stable electricity in the next 10 years, because almost every week, we hear news of one power failure or another, and nothing is done to curb that, so in as much as we can't have stable electricity, then this pollution might continue for years.
All photos are mine.