A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF AIR POLLUTION AND ITS CAUSES
CHAPTER ONE 1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Nigeria, located in West Africa, has a total land area of 983,213 square kilometers, the estimated population is over 150 million people (World Bank Population Figures) yielding an average density of more than 120 persons per square kilometers.
Industrial activities, in its modern forms, are relatively recent in the history of Nigeria’s economic development. During the pre-colonial period, Nigeria featured considerable craft industry as modern factory activity was then not known. With the advent of the Second World War and its aftermath, the economy of Nigeria changed tremendously and there were demands from Europe for industrial raw material. With time, due to the low technological base, industrial development took on the assembly-type pattern of import substitution (Wikipedia, 2015). However, political self determination since 1960 did provide the opportunity for improving on its import substitution strategy as well as developing its potentials for real industrial take off through capital goods industry. Prior to the discovery of Crude Oil in Oloibiri, Rivers State in 1956, agriculture (before 1970) was the mainstay of the Nigerian economy. The Oil boom witnessed in the 1970s led to a tremendous increase in industrial activities. With financial resources available from oil and no development policy, unguided urbanization and industrialization took place. As desirable and necessary as this development was, it became an albatross not of itself but because of the lack of appropriate environmental protection policies to guide it. The result was the indiscriminate silting of industries, deforestation and desertification, disregarding the need for environment concern. The process technology of some of these industries often resulted in unacceptable levels of toxic and dangerous industrial wastes and effluent emissions. These culminated in the degradation of the environment and devastating ecological and human disasters over the last three decades there has been increasing global concern over the public health impacts attributed to environmental pollution in particular, the global burden of disease.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates about a quarter of the diseases facing mankind today occur due to prolonged exposure to environment pollution. Most of these environment-related diseases are however not easily detected and may be acquired during childhood and manifested later in adulthood.
Industry plays an important role in the process of economic development in the world. It enhances the economic welfare of citizens and supplies the material goods they consume. The way in which society will develop in the future is largely dependent on how the growth which industry generates is distributed. Industry is also a major consumer of natural resources and a major contributor to the overall pollution load. Based on OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) estimates, it accounts for about one-third of global energy consumption of their member states and for about 10percent of the total water withdrawal. The relative contribution to the total pollution is obliviously higher for industry-related pollutants. The individual sector generates both traditional pollutants (e.g., Organic substances, sulfur dioxide, particulates and nutrients) and newly-recognized pollutants (e.g., specific toxic substance). The industrial sector includes a number of diverse activities created by industry.
Thus, industry has particular environmental responsibilities in terms of such factors as plant location and design, environmental pollution, vibration and noise controls, waste disposal, occupational health and safety aspects, and long-range planning.
Generally, the pollutants from industries are divided into three categories namely gas, solid and water. There are also some other pollutants forms such as noise and odor. Therefore there is need for government to enact and implement necessary environmental laws to control the issues of environmental pollution and this can be done by putting necessary environmental pollution enforcement structure in place to curb the spate of environmental pollution in Nigeria. www.Projectclue.com/environmental science. (2016)
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Irrespective of the numerous environmental laws enacted to protect the environment, environmental degradation has continued unabated. Air and water pollution from industrial activities are still common place in Nigeria, especially in urban areas.
Air and water pollution has also continued unabated irrespective of the Nigerian government’s directive to reduce its effect.
It travels from state dispersing pollutants in rivers and the atmosphere. This study however wants to identify the problems of environment pollution on industrial equipment and proffer solution to the issue.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main objective of this project is to provide a sound understanding of air-water pollution and their cause to enable a well informed strategy to controlling them in the industry. The objective of this study will be achieved by:
Introducing the concept of pollution Classifying the various forms of pollution Introducing the air and water pollution control practices right from local approach to the use of modern techniques. Understanding the methods of controlling air and water pollution. Explaining different environmental media Providing the basic knowledge of living with a pollution-free environment. Discuss the impact of pollutants on the environment and human health.
1.4 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT WORK
v To emphasize the link between environmental pollution and public health in an urban setting
v To identify the issues of environmental pollution in Nigeria
v To analyze the impact of environmental pollution in Nigeria
v To assist public decision-makers by providing some qualitative measure of the national benefits of controlling air and water pollution.
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What are the issues of environmental pollution in Nigeria?
2. What is the impact of environmental pollution in Nigeria?
3. What are the solutions to the challenges of environmental pollution in Nigeria?
1.6 HYPOTHESIS
HO: Environmental pollution is not a major challenge in Nigerian Industries
HA: Environmental pollution is a major challenge in Nigerian Industries
1.7 SIGNIFICANCE/JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
The following are the significance of the study/this research work is of greater importance due to the following reasons.
The outcome of the research will educate the general public on the issues and the adverse effect of environmental pollution in Nigeria The findings from this study are going to necessitate measures that will lead to demand for improved implementation of environment pollution control laws in Nigeria. The outcome of the research will enlighten and gear the management of industries on measures to abate future pollution. This research will also serve as a resource base to other scholars and researchers interested in carrying out further research in this field subsequently if applied it will go to an extent to provide a new explanation to the topic.
In conclusion, it is hoped that the study shall be of importance to existing and other upcoming organizations in general so as to improve operational efficiency and pollution control, through the various pollution abating discoveries and recommendations contained therein.
1.8 LOCATION OF THE STUDY
This research study was conducted in KWARA STATE WATER COOPERATION; 7UP BOTTLING COMPANY, LUBCON NIGERIA LIMITED.The choice of these establishments as case studies was derived from the fact that companies are highly organized private investment in Nigeria
This study on environmental pollution in Nigeria will cover cases of environment pollution ranging from air and water pollution with factories and the need to demonstrate ability to consistently provide pollution-free operations applying regulatory requirements.
In achieving our objective of this research, the research would be exploratory and analytical. The scope of the study will be on how the companies adopt pollution control and how is it a strategic decision of the company.
1.9 LIMITATION OF STUDY
v Financial constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in searching for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (observation, questionnaire and interview).
v Time constraint: The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academics work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted to the research work.
v Other constraints: Such as limited personal capabilities, transportation barriers, and environmental barriers altogether limit the coverage of the study.
In addition, reliance on previous works on this subject tends to what can be adduced to self or personal innovation.
Other limitation that must be recognized in this work arises essentially from the un co-operative attitude of some respondents which emanated from organizational rules.
Despites all these, it is believed that if this study achieves the desired objectives, the effort put therein would have been justified.
1.9.1 METHODOLOGY
1.9.2 SOURCES OF DATA
The sources of data are divided into two categories; the data which were collected from the field or study area are called the primary data. Primary data were collected by the interviewing the people of study area, by making survey on a topic of the study.
The questionnaire is one of the major primary sources of information. As it is well known that, a gathering of information is very essential in any research work as used in this project work to substantiate the information provided from the companies used as case studies. This questionnaire was designed to determine how pollution controls are being utilized in our industrial settings.
The secondary data are the data which were collected from books, journals, previous research paper and other document which contains the topic related to the study. Ayoola and Adesanya (2012)
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