Leadership (Abuja)
Meshach Adigizi
16 March 2008
column
One of the responsibilities of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), as enshrined in its enabling Act, is the implementation and sustainability of road transport safety in the country. Public opinion gives a pass mark to the FRSC for its effort at creating a level of awareness on road safety matters. Police and FRSC records as well as information from the Federal Office of Statistics show a drastic reduction in the casualty figures of road crashes in Nigeria. Emerging evidence reveals that the death toll has reduced to a significant average of 14 persons per day. This is an improvement against earlier records before the establishment of the commission: an average of over 150 persons dying every day from road traffic crashes.
Lately, the FRSC began to focus on the problem of vehicle emission and air pollution. The challenges of environmental degradation and pollution should be taken seriously as mankind is yet to discover other accomodating habitats other than planet earth.
In line with its statutory mandate, the Ministry of Environment made attempts towards improving air quality by regulating industrial emissions, forest fires and loss of soil fertility occasioned by activities of oil and mineral prospecting industries. No effort can be adjudged wasted by the ministry in an attempt to standardize its activities towards improving our ambient atmosphere.
FRSC shares the burden of improving our air quality in line with its enabling Act which makes provision for the regulation of vehicle emissions. On our highways, we are daily confronted with heavy-duty trailers, tankers, tippers and trucks discharging heavy emissions into the atmosphere. Such emissions constitute serious health hazards and have also been responsible for a large percentage of the carnage on our highways.
By the late quarter of the 1990s, the FRSC along with the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA), and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) initiated an awareness campaign for a reversal in the tragic trend of vehicular emission. Through that tripartite effort, the FRSC introduced a mechanical device that reduces vehicular emission by 70 per cent and fuel consumption by 30 per cent, invariably serving the dual advantage of social and economic security. By reducing the percentage of CO
During that campaign, FRSC enforced Section 25, Sub-Section (2) Paragraph 1 of the National Road Traffic Regulation making it mandatory for vehicles to carry the prescribed fire extinguishers, marking a new dimension in cooperative interaction amongst government organs with shared responsibilities. FEPA was expected to bring into the exercise its expertise in determining when a pollution-related offence was committed while SON was to ensure that vehicles imported into the country conform to our national standards in line with the requirement of the International Standards Organisation (ISO 1400 series) which compels industries to environment-friendly technologies.
FRSC was to ensure the enforcement of the regulation by arresting every offender as the case may be. The exercise also sought to enforce a change-over of the exhaust pipes of heavy duty trucks from the left to the right hand side of those vehicles. However, these efforts were frustrated by a coalition of National Road Transport Owners Association (NARTO) and its consorts. Since then, we have witnessed a steady decline in all actions towards curbing vehicle emissions.
In cities and other human dwellings including smaller clusters of settlements, commercial motorcycles offer a ready alternative transport mode for commuters. The motorcycles serves as a viable option for overcoming the traditional traffic hold-ups and for accessing unmotorable roads. Consequently, Nigeria is now a big market for both new and fairly used 2-stroke engine motorcycles. Ironically, these 2-stroke engine motorcycles have been phased out and banned outright in countries like Japan, USA, France and other responsive European countries because of their heavy emissions.
Over time, the FRSC has carved a niche for itself in exceptional operations and enforcement strategies. The NRTR 2007 is explicit in placing a burden on FRSC to restrict and regulate vehicles emission towards improving air quality.
The effort of FRSC, however, suffers a severe set-back from the inaction of SON to set and regulate the standard of vehicles imported into the country. Without specific regulating criterion on vehicle emisions at the point of entry, fairly used and overused vehicles, properly described as junks or scraps, have continually found their ways into the Nigerian highways. Apart from government and a few corporate vehicles, over 90 percent of vehicles plying our highways emit CO
Current technologies and information from satellites equipped with weather instruments have revealed an alarming insight into the polluting effects of CO
In Nigeria, the fast-receding beaches of the Lagos Lagoon, the gullies and craters carved by erosions in Anambra and other Southwestern states, the increasing temperatures of its cities and the increasing number of deaths caused by respiratory diseases clearly testify to the environmental hazards resulting from air pollution.
These revelations of the dangers of air pollution have shocked responsive governments into taking pre-emptive measures to counter an impending environmental crisis, especially against the increasing numbers and activities of vehicles, including motorcycles, especially in large cities and the related health impacts of air-borne particulate matter (PM) and diesel exhaust particles (DEP) emitted by these transport machines.
Consequently, the growing concern about these environmental hazards culminated in a meeting of responsive governments towards drawing target plans for the reduction of greenhouse emissions. The agreement reached during the 1997 environmental meeting in Japan, popularly known as the Kyoto Protocol, has also formulated master plans for the measures to check global warmings through vehicle emissions. This was based on the discovery that out of the total CO
In some of these countries, determined effort toward the reduction of vehicle tail pipe emissions achieved a significant reduction in the amounts of CO
In addition to strengthening regulations on exhaust emissions, advanced countries made plans to introduce fuel economy regulation. To this end, researches are being encouraged in the use of alternative energy to improve the environment leading to the manufacturing of hybrid vehicles and electronic vehicles. However, these vehicles are yet to gain popular acceptance because of the high cost of production.
Nigeria must not be left out in this environmental challenge. There is urgent need for government to set a standard for air quality and challenge the responsible agencies with the task of enforcing the regulations that will abide by those standards. These agencies may be charged with drawing up long term vehicle emission regulation with the aim of reducing the atmospheric pollutant levels.
While other governments have heeded the agreement reached through the Kyoto Protocol and had set out to improve air quality with an action period toward the year 2010, further international discussions have already begun regarding the measures that should be taken in the period 2020-2030. Unfortunately, Nigeria is yet to set and adopt strategies to effectively combat the challenges of regulating vehicles' tail pipe emissions.
Meanwhile, the nation's atmosphere is daily polluted by the operations of low-voltage generators in many households in Nigeria. With the apparent failure of the energy sector to guarantee consistent power supply, Nigerian households including business shops rely on alternative power source. These generators, manufactured for weaker economies, come cheaply and are very unpopular in advanced countries due to their high emission levels. It is on record that many Nigerian families have lost their lives through the toxic emissions of these generators, while many others suffer inexplicable and bizarre respiratory diseases.
There is much to be done in checking environmental hazards. This is because in addition to the polluting effects of toxic emissions from household and industrial energy alternatives, there is also a careless attitude to our waste disposal management. Often times, waste materials are incinerated openly in our homes and in our backyards without due regard for the environmental impact.
There is need for a concerted effort towards the reduction of the percentage of pollutant levels in our atmosphere. FRSC alone cannot make any meaningful headway without the contribution of supporting agencies. For instance, FRSC's effort at decongesting traffic and enforcing the traffic penalty of black smoke violation has created a level of awareness on the dangers of heavy emissions. However, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) may need to tighten its noose around importers of vehicles into this country. All vehicles imported must pass specific technical tests towards ensuring that there is adherence to the ISO 14000 series.
Government also needs to consider the legislation of total ban on the import of the 2-stroke engine motorcycles and power generating sets This may be a severe option but there is no other way round it. The only other way is the immediate reactivation of alternative transport modes, that is, the railway system, as well as upgrading of the energy sector towards the provision of consistent power supply. Until this is done, any attempt by FRSC to enforce the regulation on vehicle emissions will translate to keeping almost all vehicles in the country out of our roads. This is because only a handful of vehicles plying our roads can pass any test on tail pipe emision. Any further attempt to restrict the use of power generating sets will also put more than a half of Nigerian households and businesses into permanent inertia.
We must acknowledge that there is a clear and present danger and we must reorientate ourselves towards the preservation and improvement of our air quality. No sacrifice is too much as the consequences of our inaction will portend a dangerous threat to our future generations.
2 and NO2 including sulphur and particulate matter into the atmosphere, the catalytic converter improves air quality, thereby favouring a healthier environment. Furthermore, by reducing the percentage of fuel consumption, it helps motorists spend less on fuel.2, NO2, sulphur and particulate matter far above the requirement for a healthy ambient atmosphere. Clearly, Nigeria's current air contamination level, and the apparent inaction of respective responsible agencies negate the global consciousness on the dangers posed by the scars of industrialisation and air pollution on the ozone layer.2, NO2, Sulphur and other toxic emissions from industrial complexes and transport machines as being responsible for the changing geological patterns, global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer. For instance, in the USA, pollution from cities has already reduced crop production by almost 10 percent. In Japan, waste dumped by Tokyo city has reached an alarming estimate of 20 million tonnes every year. It is also estimated that the percentage of air pollution caused by traffic congestion in London is higher than that caused by the burning of coal before 1956.2 emissions into the atmosphere, auto-related emissions account for about 90 percent of emissions into the atmosphere.2 and NO2 including sulphur discharges into the atmosphere. For instance, following the Kyoto Protocol, Japan adopted a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target under specific test modes and pegged 1.27 per cent and 0.17 per cent for CO and NO respectively emitted by passengers cars at 10-15 km/hr, while trucks/buses (diesel vehicles) were pegged at 0.98 per cent for CO and 0.43 per cent for NO at the same speed. Instructively, this regulation has been improved by the year 2005, making Japan's regulation on vehicle emission the most stringent in the world with Europe, Canada and USA trailing behind.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
