22,500 children died from air pollution in Lagos in 2021, says LASEPA
Posted by Ahmed Iyanda | 2 years ago | 949 times
The Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) has confirmed that 22,500 children died from air pollution in the state in 2021, and the figure was 75 percent of 30,000 people who died in the year due to the bad environment.
The General Manager, LASEPA, Dolapo Fasawe, made this known to journalists on the sidelines of the official kick-off ceremony for the “EKO Clean Air” project on Saturday in Lagos, with the theme, “Breathe Clean Air Now”.
The Agency Boss said that the figures were derived from a report which recorded the impact of air pollution on the health of residents.
Fasawe said that the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had been very deliberate and proactive in its resolve to deliver clean air and a sustainable environment to Lagos residents.
“Eko for Clean Air is preaching prosperity, good health, increased GDP and increased productivity for the people of Lagos State.
“We are currently in Itedo community and the response has been mind-blowing.
According to her, the Agency carried out Air Quality Study before the intervention, adding that many people did not know the effects of air pollution on health.
“We did Air Quality Study before this intervention and we also did something called the K-A-P: Knowledge, Attitude and Practices and we realised that a lot of people did not know the effects of air pollution on health.
“So, our coming here to preach clean energy and recycling, the people are excited and they are committed to partnering with the government on the project, '' she added.
“As you can see, the government is teaching the people the practice of waste to wealth by buying the plastic waste, E-waste and used oils from them, thus putting money in their pocket”.
She said that LASEPA would return to the community in four weeks to measure the air quality and ascertain their compliance with the practice already established.
A 2020 World Bank study revealed that illness and premature deaths due to ambient air pollution caused losses of $2.1 billion in 2018, representing 2.1% of Lagos State’s GDP.
In 2018, ambient air pollution led to about 11,200 premature deaths, the highest in West Africa. Children under five were the most affected, accounting for 60 percent of total deaths while adults suffered from heart disease, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The study proposes various remedies to improve Lagos’s air quality such as using cleaner passenger vehicles, shifting to public transport, adopting cleaner fuel and using alternative power sources.
