Generators: Providing power and taking lives

Sir: At least 60 million Nigerians own generator sets and more than N3.5 trillion is spent yearly on fuelling these sets. When one considers that 82.1 per cent of the 28.9 million households in Nigeria do not have access to electricity from the national grid and that Nigeria’s electricity consumption per capita is the lowest in Africa, then the imperative of generators to public and private life in Nigeria becomes compelling. What are the environmental and health consequences of running a nation on these units in a century where climate change is accepted as one of the defining challenges?

While Nigeria has no standard national emission inventory indicating the percentile contribution of pollution sources, estimates point to petrol and diesel fuelled generators used for domestic and commercial power supply as one of the major sources of pollution. Air pollution induced by indiscriminate generator use has progressively gotten worse in Nigeria to the point that four of Nigerian cities are now on the list of the Most Polluted Cities in the World and 94 per cent of Nigerian citizens are exposed to air pollution levels that exceed WHO guidelines. Tragically, Nigeria has no comprehensive policy framework regulating the use of generators or mitigating the environmental consequences of running generators in millions. Neither has policy makers given much thought to the threat that generator fumes pose to the productivity, health and overall wellbeing of the nation.

A report puts the number of deaths from generator smoke inhalation in Nigeria between 2008 and 2014 at no fewer than 10,000 and almost every week media reports tell of the deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning. Generator fumes are a mixture of toxic and environmentally unfriendly gases, including carbon monoxide which is odourless and colourless and becomes fatal with sustained concentrations. The exhaust produced by a typical 5.5 kW generator contains as much carbon monoxide as that of six idling cars and in Nigeria’s densely populated urban centres, where almost every house runs multiple generators, this creates health hazards with potentially fatal consequences. Incidents of entire families dying from smoke inhalation is a regular feature in the news media and in one particular case 17 persons died at a religious gathering suspected to be from smoke inhalation in 2008.

It cannot be said that Nigeria has no air quality regulatory framework. As a matter of fact, there does exist a patchwork of environmental related legislations, ministries, agencies and policies, dating back to the Federal Environment Protection Agency Act of 1988. There are regulations on vehicular emissions, mining, domestic and industrial plastic, bush or forest fire, open burning of waste and the construction sector but there is no comprehensive policy framework regulating the importation, use and maintenance of individual power generators in Nigeria. Except for sporadic policy interventions like the 2015 ban on the importation of mini-generator sets, the question of usage has been a question of affordability.

Despite having more power generators than cars, Nigeria has no comprehensive regulatory framework addressing efficiency standards, labelling procedure, emissions standards, usage and installation among other things. Considering the prevalence of the use of generators in Nigeria, creating an effective national regulatory framework would require the active contribution of all stakeholders, especially at the sub-national levels. It remains to be seen how political, economic and social actors across all walks of Nigerian life will define an encompassing framework that will keep a balance between power generation and a sustainable environment. The Nigerian constitution states that the ‘welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government’ and ensuring clean air for every Nigerian is central to achieving that goal; creating a regulatory framework governing the use of generators should be the foundation to this objective in this instance.

That Nigerians die in hundreds yearly due to carbon monoxide poisoning from generator smoke is an evidence of how little Nigerians are aware of the health hazard involved in heavy generator use.
Tosin Osasona is senior research associate, Centre for Public Policy Alternatives.