Rose Alani, an Environmental Chemist, established the Air Quality Monitoring Research Group at the University of Lagos. The research group is a partner in a multi-African institution air quality monitoring, modeling, and advocacy project that will deploy a total of 65 sensors across Lagos, Accra, Yaoundé and in Burundi, with one government-grade reference monitor in Lagos. Part of the motivation of this work is to stimulate the transition from the use of fossil fuel-powered generators to renewable sources of energy such as solar.
“In Nigeria, the use of generators is prevalent in both housing units and industries. Transitioning away from these fossil fuel-powered machines has the potential to bring about significant change. By reducing their use, emissions can be cut, and air pollution alleviated by up to 50%, resulting in a notable improvement in the region’s environmental quality. A continuous air quality monitoring network would serve as a valuable tool to verify the implementation of such policies and to determine their effectiveness.” – Dr. Rose Alani
Country Profile (Nigeria): Opportunity Score 9.0 (Medium-High): Annual average PM2.5 levels are more than 4.5 times the WHO guideline. There is no public PM2.5 data produced by the government, nor is there a national ambient air quality standard for PM2.5.