Environmentalist predicts acid rain in 2015

THE Chairman, Nigerian Environmental Society, Lagos Island Chapter (NESLIC), Mr John Ekoko, on Thursday said that early rain experienced in Lagos and coastal areas could lead to acid rain later.

He made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

“The early rain will disturb the natural climatic pattern in 2015. We know that rain does not fall in February, naturally it will stop at a stage.

“Now, you wonder if rain will start in May. It may not and farmers will suffer for it.

“The early rain will upset the climatic balance and a lot of acid rain will fall. It has happened before,’’ he said.

Ekoko explained that with the rain not falling in season, naturally people would not plan to curtail it and as such, it would affect the ecosystem generally.

The environmentalist said that the pattern of the early rainfall was heavy which showed that it would create a run-off.

According to him, the run-off will create flooding as the ground did not prepare for the amount of water that is being released.

Ekoko said that the early rain was one of the major adverse effects of climate change.

He said that “as the surface of the ground is being heated it releases doses of carbon dioxide, which heats up the earth and result in melting of the ice region.

He said that it was the heating of the ice region that released the heavy rainfall around the coastal regions in Nigeria.

“We are worried for our farmers and we are worried about the impending acid rain.

“We are also worried for flood it will cause, erosion and gully erosion it will create,’’ he said.