Dr. Sadiq Mohammed, an agroscientist and Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, has called on the Federal Government to reinforce Nigeria’s environmental protection laws. He stressed that doing so is crucial for safeguarding public health and improving life expectancy across the country.
Speaking during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday, Dr. Mohammed highlighted widespread pollution of water bodies, rampant misuse of agrochemicals, and weak enforcement of environmental regulations as major threats to the nation’s health and food security.
“The government needs to understand that environmental laws must be strengthened,” he said. “Many industries prepare for inspections by presenting clean sites but continue to discharge industrial and pharmaceutical wastes into water bodies that serve as municipal water sources.”
Dr. Mohammed warned that these toxic discharges—including pharmaceutical effluents and cement waste—contaminate water supplies and harm downstream communities who rely on these sources.
He further explained a lesser-known danger involving mercury contamination from burning mutilated naira notes. According to Dr. Mohammed, “The mercury content remains in the ash, which some local farmers mistakenly use as organic manure on their farms.”
This practice leads to mercury interacting with iodine in the human body, inhibiting iodine secretion and causing goitre disease. “Our environment is heterogeneous, with rubbish, cement, batteries, and plastics all mixed together. These pollutants enter the soil, and plants absorb them, which eventually affects those who consume the crops,” he said.
Dr. Mohammed warned that continued exposure to such harmful chemicals, which have no biological function, is detrimental to Nigerians’ life expectancy. “Unless the government acts decisively to strengthen environmental laws, the typical life expectancy in Nigeria could drop to 30 years. We must prevent this from happening.”
He also expressed concerns about the indiscriminate granting of mining licenses without adequate reclamation laws. Abandoned mining sites often fill with water, which farmers use for irrigation, thereby introducing contaminants into the food chain.
“Agrochemical residues in the soil reduce fertility over time, and combined with these other issues, they pose a serious risk to public health and environmental sustainability,” Dr. Mohammed concluded.
