Nigeria’s Silent Air Pollution Crisis Puts Lung Health At Risk
Nigeria’s Silent Air Pollution Crisis Puts Lung Health at Risk
Nigeria is facing a largely overlooked public health crisis as millions of citizens are exposed daily to polluted air from household cooking smoke, vehicle emissions, industrial activities, construction dust, open waste burning and gas flaring. The warning comes amid growing concern over the country’s respiratory disease burden, with experts calling for integrated lung health to become a national priority rather than being treated as a collection of separate health and environmental problems. Smoke from firewood and charcoal, emissions from vehicles and generators, industrial pollution and occupational exposure to dust, fumes and chemicals are among the major sources of harmful pollutants. Communities in oil-producing areas also face additional exposure linked to gas flaring. These exposures are associated with respiratory conditions including tuberculosis, pneumonia, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD and lung cancer, placing additional pressure on Nigeria’s already overstretched healthcare system. According to the State of Global Air 2025, air pollution contributed to more than 200,000 deaths in Nigeria in 2023, highlighting the scale of the threat. The situation has renewed calls for Nigeria to implement the principles of World Health Assembly Resolution WHA78.5, adopted in May 2025, which promotes an integrated approach to lung health covering prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care. Experts argue that reducing air pollution should be treated as a direct public-health intervention.
Cleaner cooking fuels, more reliable electricity, improved public transportation, stronger industrial regulations, effective waste management and reduced gas flaring could all help lower exposure to harmful pollutants. Gas flaring is of particular concern. The World Bank’s 2026 Global Gas Flaring Tracker reported that global gas flaring reached 167 billion cubic metres in 2025, with Nigeria among the nine countries responsible for 83 per cent of global flaring.
The consequences extend beyond deaths and hospital admissions. Respiratory illnesses can result in missed school and work, reduced productivity, disability and significant household healthcare costs.
Nigeria’s tuberculosis burden illustrates the challenge. The country notified 458,534 TB cases in 2025, although a substantial gap remains between estimated infections and cases diagnosed and reported. Asthma and COPD also remain significant concerns, with limited national surveillance making it difficult to determine the full scale of chronic respiratory disease across the country.
Experts say primary healthcare centres should be equipped to recognise respiratory symptoms early, identify patients requiring TB investigations, diagnose and manage uncomplicated asthma and chronic respiratory conditions, provide essential medicines and refer complicated cases. A proposed National Integrated Lung Health Agenda would bring together health, environment, energy, transport, labour, education and other sectors to tackle both the causes and consequences of respiratory disease. Such a strategy would include stronger air-quality monitoring, expanded access to affordable diagnostics and inhaled medicines, improved oxygen availability, tobacco control, occupational safety measures and better respiratory-health data. The approach would also prioritise vulnerable communities, including low-income households, children, workers exposed to hazardous environments and people living near industrial and oil-producing areas. The central message is clear: Nigeria cannot achieve universal health coverage while millions of people continue to breathe polluted air and struggle to access affordable respiratory care. Protecting the air Nigerians breathe, experts argue, must become an essential part of protecting the nation’s health and productivity.
