While various scientific research results have linked annual deaths of more than 100,000 Nigerians to air pollution, partly caused by the dirty fuel imported into the country by commodity dealers, the various regulatory bodies saddled with the responsibility of ensuring quality fuel sales have continued to engage in buck-passing.
The research, which is said to be partly funded by the UK Foreign Office’s anti-corruption conflict, stability and security fund, is part of SDN’s efforts to assist those affected by the extractive industry and weak governance by exposing irregularities and shady deals.
An SDN official, Florence Kayemba, said; “Our research suggests Nigeria is having dirty fuel dumped that can’t be sold to other countries with higher and better-implemented standards. The situation is so bad that the average official diesels sampled are of an even lower quality than that produced by artisanal refining camps in the creeks of the Niger Delta.”
The research is also a reiteration of a similar investigation earlier conducted by the Swiss-based investigative team- Public Eye. “The DPR is the regulator who inspects and certifies petroleum products coming into the country. I think DPR is best suited to react to the allegation,” Mr Obateru said in a short message to PREMIUM TIMES.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s quoted standard, labelled NIS 116 and released in 2017, pegged the maximum sulphur content in petrol at 150ppm while NIS 949 for diesel has the maximum sulphur content pegged at 50ppm.Therefore, as the result of the SDN research shows, diesel legally purchased at fuel stations in Nigeria contain sulphur 41 times higher than the Nigerian recommended standards while the sulphur contents of those refined in the creeks are about 30 times higher.
“For such, we have the responsibility of checking along with other regulators in the industry but for the imported products, our responsibility is that whatever standard we set for them is not different from those set for the ones locally made here because by WTO rules, we cannot discriminate.” In 2016 alone, HEI noted that more than 114,000 Nigerians died from air pollution, with its chart noting that there were “150 deaths per age-standardised deaths per 100,000 people attributable to air pollution in Nigeria in 2016 compared to high industrialised countries like China, 117 deaths per 100,000 people; Russia, 62 deaths per 100,000 people; Germany, 22 deaths per 100,000 people; United Kingdom, 21 deaths per 100,000 people; the United States, 21 deaths per 100,000 people; Japan 13...
The Guardian report on the development noted that with more than 11 million cars imported into the country, “and hundreds of thousands of inefficient generators used by households and businesses for electricity, Nigeria ranks fourth in the world for deaths caused by air pollution.” In its recommendations, the SDN advised that fuel quality tests should be immediately carried out nationwide to explore the extent of poor fuel distribution. He noted that improved standards for fuel quality were approved in Nigeria by the SON in 2017, “but enforcement is evidently weak to non-existent by responsible agencies.”
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