The current outbreak of Corona-virus pandemic across the world has led to drastic reduction in Carbon emission in the atmosphere, which equally caused decline in issues related to climate change, especially desertification, deforestation and other forms of environmental degradation facing communities.
Director of an NGO, African Climate Reporters, Comrade Mohammed Zakariyya, who gave the evaluation at weekend, said the current lockdown of many states in Nigeria due to COVID-19 pandemic has also resulted in the reduction in air pollution and environmental challenges that have been causing many health problems in the past.
He said research has shown that every year millions of people died as a result of air pollution arising from burning of firewood, consuming smoke from trashed dump centres located in local communities and others.
According to him, the World Health Organization estimated that 4.6 million people died each year of causes directly attributable to air pollution, stressing that air quality is improving on daily basis in states under coronavirus quarantine in Nigeria,
Mohammed stated all these, when he lead a team of journalists and other environmental experts to a tour of most of the states and street of Nigeria including kaduna that are under- lockdown.
“World-wide More and more Factories and companies are shutting day-by-day, and with mandates for people to stay inside home ,and this is becoming the new norm, people aren’t driving or flying.
“Merely all the entire countries and cities are in lockdown. Borders are closing. Companies are struggling to stay in business and families are simply struggling to stay afloat,while COVID-19 is causing more victims”, he stated.
The Director said, most of the abbatoirs that usually pollutes and animals roast with expired tyres are also closed down due to Corona-virus, saving the environment againt air pollution.
Empty streets due to the Lockdown have crippled the activities of Tanker-drivers, commercial vehicles which include Taxi, Trycycle and Okada riders, that contributed to increase in pollution, are absent, he noted.
According to him , there is a serious reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere due to lock down by federal and state government of Nigeria.
“The United Nations continues to ramp up its fight against the coronavirus, which has killed nearly 9,000 people and infected roughly 210,000 across the universe , as it also crippled-down the health ,education, economic and environmental sectors of every country.
“Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) emissions, a major air pollutant, are closely linked to factory output and vehicles operating on the road and its really very harmful to both human and the environment”, he stated, adding that Coronavirus quarantines has lead to massive drop in air pollution and also reduce environmental challenges.
“Many of these mortalities are attributable to indoor air pollution. Worldwide more deaths per year are linked to air pollution than to automobile accidents.
He further stated that an estimated 12.6 million deaths every year are attributable to unhealthy environments due to human irrational activities which include burning expired tyres, smoke from Trash dump centers, Air pollution from local animal slaughter houses among others.
Accordingly, he said Environmental risk factors, such as air, water and soil pollution, chemical exposures, climate change, and ultraviolet radiation, contribute to more than 100 diseases and injuries across the world.
He suggest that using clean technologies and fuels for domestic cooking, heating and lighting reduced acute respiratory infections, chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases and burns.
He therefore called on local bakeries to embrace new technology in bread making ,so as to halt using of firewood ,in order to save the forestry against going extinctions.
Similarly, the grand patron of the organization, Dr Yusuf Nadabo called on Citizens to always obey social distancing and stay at home to avert the spread of the pandemic while wishing people round the world happy earth day which is 21th april 2020, he equally urged people to clean their environment adding that Corona -virus is real.
