Education
Pollution: Group seeks deployment of air monitoring sensors across Nigeria – EnviroNews
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The Media Awareness and Justice Initiative (MAJI) has urged governments at all levels to deploy more technology-driven air-quality sensors across the country.
MAJI’s Executive Director, Mr. Okoro Onyekachi, made the call at a stakeholders’ meeting in Port Harcourt on Friday, September 11, 2026.
The event, supported by Air Gradient, Open Air Foundation and United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF), was organised to commemorate the International Day for Clean Air and Blue Skies, with the theme, “Environmental Data”.
Onyekachi said deploying monitoring devices and establishing open-data systems would strengthen environmental monitoring, accountability and public participation.
“Continuous collection, analysis and public access to reliable environmental data will empower communities to understand pollution effects and seek redress,” he said.
Prof. Mbalisi Onyeka, an environmental education expert at the University of Port Harcourt, urged authorities to make air-quality data readily accessible to the public.
Onyeka said environmental data should not be restricted to boardrooms and conference halls but made available to communities and other stakeholders.
He said data available to MAJI indicated that air quality in parts of the Niger Delta region was polluted, with some pollutants exceeding permissible levels.
According to him, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide emissions in some areas were above World Health Organisation (WHO) permissible limits.
The don described the situation as unhealthy and potentially harmful to human life, stressing the need for effective air-quality monitoring.
Also speaking, Mr. Ikechukwu Ahaka, MAJI’s Lead Project Officer, Policy and Environment, said VOCs, combined with other harmful compounds, contributed to more than seven million deaths annually.
Ahaka said that this made it one of the most avoidable causes of death, with low-and middle-income countries more affected.
“VOCs have dominant carcinogenic compounds that break down the body system and affect the bone marrow and other vital body organs,” he said.
He said the initiative had deployed about 37 air-quality sensors to generate data and identify areas with high pollution density across the Niger Delta.
Ahaka said 15 of the devices were received through MAJI’s international partners, Open Air Foundation, with support from UNDEF.
According to him, data generated would be analysed and presented in a fact sheet to support policymaking, evidence-based advocacy and lawmaking.
He attributed rising air pollution in the Niger Delta to oil exploration and production, industrial activities and harmful domestic practices.
He called for clean-cooking initiatives, alternative cooking methods and a clean-air network to track pollution across communities.
On his part, Dr. David Vareba, Executive Director, Access Africa for Rights and Development Initiative, urged the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) to include air-quality assessment in Joint Investigation Visits.
Vareba said regulators often assessed soil and water contamination during investigations of oil spills and gas leaks without adequately assessing air quality.
He urged NESREA to consider wind direction during pollution assessments, noting that pollutants could be carried to communities beyond oil-spill locations.
The executive director said clean air was essential to human health and longevity, urging regulators and industries to use available data to strengthen environmental protection.
By Precious Akutamadu
