Those living in the most polluted states of Cross River and Taraba could live more than 3.5 years of life expectancy. Over 70 percent of the population lives in regions that do not meet Nigeria’s national standard of 20 µg/m3. If these areas met the national standard, the average life expectancy could increase by 6.6 months—adding a total of 89.5 million life years to the population.
This air quality crisis stems from a mix of uncontrolled industrial emissions, indoor cooking smoke, vehicle exhaust, and dump site fires. For years, air quality data available to the public in Nigeria was non-existent. There was little to no evidence showing where hidden pollution was concentrated—such as traffic emissions, smoke from fuel tanks and pipeline explosions in the Niger Delta—when it peaked, how severe it was, or how deeply it was impacting human health.
This data gap began to close when three clean air leaders started measuring air quality in Nigeria. Supported by the EPIC Air Quality Fund, the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Air Quality Monitoring Research Group, University of Lagos, and Environmental Quality for Public Good Research Group in Nigeria established an air quality monitoring network. Although all three actors work independently, together they have been able to develop a network of approximately 65 low-cost air quality monitors that provides decision makers and the public with real-time pollution data that shows the extent of the pollution challenge and provides evidence to support change.
Laying the foundation for reform
The growing data on Nigeria’s air pollution challenge comes as a new era of national policy action takes shape across the country. According to LAMATA–Nigeria’s first government agency to provide fully open, real-time air quality data to the public—the collaborative consultations with government agencies, academic, development partners and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) are allowing steady progress towards strengthening air quality and clean air action. These discussions are supporting the development of a National Policy on Soot-Free Buses and a National Strategy and Implementation Plan for the deployment of Compressed Natural Gas and electric buses across the country–which supports the transition away from diesel-powered buses towards cleaner initiatives.
“The EPIC Air Quality Fund came at exactly the right moment—its support enabled us to scale from a single prototype to a city-wide air quality monitoring network,” says Abimbola Akinajo, Managing Director and CEO of LAMATA. “Today, we operate more than 50 monitoring locations across Lagos. To complement these ground-based sensors, we integrate satellite observations, allowing us to estimate air quality over a much wider area. By combining data from our monitoring stations with satellite information covering 177 mapped locations, we are building one of the most comprehensive pictures of air pollution currently available for Lagos.”
So far, LAMATA’s monitoring work has identified around ten pollution hotspots in Lagos, showing that transport-heavy areas—such as traffic bottlenecks, major intersections, and road-side markets—are among the biggest sources of air pollution. Working alongside the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), LAMATA is using baseline air quality data to support discussions on introducing Low Emission Zones and priority interventions for cleaner public transport and healthier urban environments.
Building on these efforts, LAMATA is advancing plans to introduce Black Carbon monitoring along key transport corridors. As a reliable indicator of transport-related combustion emissions, this will track commuter exposure, identify hotspots, and measure the impact of clean transport initiatives, while building the institutional analytics capacity.
Collaboration among major clean air actions across Nigeria is driving this national agenda forward. The collected air pollution data will strengthen the Air Quality Management Recommendation and Action Plan for Lagos that was submitted by the Air Quality Monitoring Research Group at the University of Lagos. “In addition to the capital city, the data collected from Port Harcourt—a major soot hotspot in the Niger Delta region— will lay the foundation to replicate this policy roadmap for Port Harcourt,” says Rose Alani, the Project Lead at the Air Quality Monitoring Research Group, University of Lagos.
Working with stakeholders to drive public awareness and advance the agenda
For all three EPIC Air Quality Awardees, building partnerships and engaging stakeholders has been just as vital as the data collection in driving the air quality initiatives forward. In order to build public interest without causing panic, the Air Quality Monitoring Research Group at the University of Lagos trained over 25 journalists from various media houses on how to report accurately on air quality.
“Involving the press from an early stage allowed us to usher in our EPIC project to the Nigerian communities and build the foundations for a strong public anticipation,” says Alani. Working closely with the media and educating the public secured an eager community support across both Lagos and Port Harcourt.
At the community level, awardees focused on taking air quality monitoring directly to the people. LAMATA engaged residents in Bariga Local Government (Ward G) to install sensors, map local traffic hotspots, and hold community sessions on what the data meant for their everyday health. “The engagement provided valuable local insights that helped us explore converting the First and Last Mile buses from petrol power to CNG or electric power, ultimately reducing residents’ exposure to transport emissions,” says Akinajo.
Similarly, the Environmental Quality for Public Good Research Group, led by Adetoun Mustapha, established grassroots advocacy by conducting stakeholder mapping across Lagos, Ibadan, and Abuja. “After securing national ethics approval from the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research and social approval from the Lagos State Ministry of Health for our EPIC funded project, we engaged partners and teachers to set up Environmental Health Clubs in secondary schools, which now serve as grassroots data collectors and peer educators that extend clean air advocacy far beyond the university,” says Mustapha. As part of the advocacy program, they produce infographics and multi-language social media campaigns in Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo—tools that train and raise public awareness from early on.
Public awareness efforts extended beyond local communities to educational outreach. In Lagos, LAMATA turned waiting times for the Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT) Blue Line—Nigeria’s first electric metro rail system—into an educational experience, teaching primary and secondary school students about air pollution’s causes, health impacts, and how cleaner transport systems contribute to healthier cities. “By turning waiting time into a learning experience, we inspired hundreds of young people to become advocates for clean air,” says Akinajo.
