Industrial Development and the Nigerian Environment: Paradox and Reality

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE NIGERIAN ENVIRONMENT: PARADOX AND REALITY[1]

BY AbbasBashir Department of Geography, School of Envirinmental sciences, Modibbo Adama University of Technology,Yola, Nigeria Email: [e-mail]

Introduction

The Nigerian nation like most other developing countries have shown high regards for, and indeed embarked on different schemes and policies of industrial development because it is generally believed that industrialization is the panacea for the prevailing problems of underdevelopment. The general expectation is that industrialization will facilitate more employment opportunities, increase personal and national income, improvement in peoples living standards, improvement in the country`s balance of payment through export promotion and import substitution, and the diffusion of technical and managerial skills. While these positive effects of industrialization are not in doubt, this conceptualization of the process of national development has tended to ignore the fundamental question of human welfare and environmental quality which must not be compromised in our drive to achieve national greatness.

Over the years Nigeria’s orientation towards industrialization seem to suggest that the belief (and indeed our attitudes show) that environmental degradation and hazards should simply be tolerated as long as the industrial activity associated with it results in growing personal and national income, and provides job opportunities for the masses. Currently however, Nigeria is experiencing a period of increasing industrialization, rapid population growth and urbanization which combine to exert pressure on both the rural and urban environments within the country. If care is not taken this may lead to severe damages to both the urban and rural environments and to human life. We are therefore tempted to ask whether industrialization is a Beauty or a Beast to the Nigerian environment.

This paper focuses on the paradox that "increasing industrialization, and by implication increasing national wealth, is also associated with declining environmental quality and rising health hazards." Our thesis is that with proper environmental education and awareness especially on the part of our policy makers and industrial entrepreneurs, environmental hazards and risks (the Beast) arising from our industrial activities can be greatly minimized, while the benefits (the Beauty) of industrialization and urbanization may be enhanced for national development. The paper develops these arguments in three parts, including: the impact of industrialization on the rural environment,
i. the impact of industrialization on the urban environment, and ii. the policy implications of these impacts for sustainable environment.

Impact of Industrialization on the Rural Environment
One of the dilemmas for development in Nigeria is how to give priority to the material needs of our teeming population by exploiting our resource reservoirs, while at the same time controlling the regenerative capacity of the resources from destruction due to poor management. In our bid to modernize the rural environment and satisfy the social and economic needs of our people through industrialization and the provision of infrastructural facilities, a price is often paid for environmental degradation. This is because industrialization makes great demand on the environment especially in terms of resource extraction and waste emission. Unfortunately, however, our planners usually fail to recognise the fact that health problems are frequently caused directly or indirectly by changes in the human environment. Industrialization has both direct and indirect impact on the rural environment.

Indirect Impact
Indirectly, industrialization is affecting the beauty of the rural environment through agriculture. Modern agriculture requires the use of many agro-chemicals (fertilizers and herbicides etc.) to improve yield, reduce damage done to crops and animals, and minimize post harvest losses. However, the application of these chemicals could cause some harm to other non-target living organisms including man himself. This is because "the active ingredients used in the manufacture of these chemicals may cause cancer and are therefore harmful to human health" (Okafor, 1988; p. 155).

Through irrigation, agro-chemicals return to water and pollute water bodies there by affecting water quality. Our industrialist who in the first place is responsible for the production of these harmful chemicals often appears to be oblivious of the environmental consequences, because for him, it is the farmer that interacts directly with the farmlands. Moreover, the industrialist also believes that his activity is leading to better crop yields, lesser post harvest loss and therefore economic progress for the nation.

On the other hand forest clearing for agriculture, urban growth and industrial expansion are seriously affecting the rural environment by reducing the extent, diversity and stability of the forest. The UNO FAO, estimates that currently the rate of forest loss through careless exploitation is claiming about 600,000 hectares of forest annually while reforestation programme is only restoring about 4% of the lost forest annually. Careless depletion of our forests for what ever purpose constitutes a threat to soil fertility, soil stability, and agricultural productivity and by extension the quality of life of the rural man.

ii)Direct Impact
One of the causes of many environmental problems that are directly attributed to our style of industrial development is the lack of regard for environmental health in the planning, location and building of industrial projects. Industries are often established to satisfy the social and economic needs of the people without serious consideration for the possible direct and indirect impacts on the environment.

Industries are cited in the rural areas for a number of reasons. Some are established to extract raw materials or other forms of the rural resources while in some cases they are sited to take advantage of the relative abundance of space, or for the avoidance of responsibility for control over pollution activities of the industries. Yet others are selfishly located away from the urban industrial areas on to the rural land because of their obnoxious pollution effects. For whatever reason industries are located in the rural areas, their social and environmental impacts (which are usually not calculated) may be enormous.

Depending on the type of industry, both air, water and land are modified and polluted. For example, cement industries pose serious threat to the environment through the discharge of effluent water which eventually find way to the surrounding rivers and streams. This consequently raises the PH level of the water and cause harm to innocent organisms. More seriously, according to Law and Smith (1993: p. 43), the activity of cement industry also lead to the emission of carbon monoxide, sulphur and nitrous oxides which have serious effects on air quality and cause cancer. Moreover, the concrete dumps deposited in the vicinity of the industry harden up into extensive concrete surfaces which can neither be cultivated nor reforested.

We deliberately site the case of cement industry among many others because it is relevant to Adamawa state in particular, where in recent times the establishment of a cement industry is contemplated for the state. While the establishment of the proposed cement industry will mean economic progress for the state, this should not blind us from planning seriously for the control and mitigation of the externalities that may arise from the activities of the industry.

Impact of Industrialization on Urban Environment
Environmental problems arising from industrialization are not limited to the rural environment. Rapid urbanization and industrialization is exerting sever and more damaging impact on the urban environment. The increasing discharge and accumulation of domestic and particularly industrial effluent (solid, liquid and gaseous) in our major and small towns now constitute serious problem for environment management and control.

Until very recently our concern especially in Adamwa state had merely been that of physical removal of wastes from the streets and compounds. The common practice had been to dispose of refuse by the expedient method available, either by open burning or the use of open dumps. This methods were tolerable only because the rate of discharge, volume and variety of these wastes were within the management limits of the available methods and space. With increasing population, urbanization and rising demand for manufactured goods, the rate of waste generation and accumulation from the industries is fast exceeding the capacity of the traditional disposal methods to manage. Besides, the wastes generated even from the very few incipient industries are of great diversity in composition, a situation that further complicates the problem of satisfactory disposal.

Some of the easily noticeable industrial wastes in our urban environments include throw-away metals, plastics, glass, and cardboard paper containers which by their volume and composition, are difficult to handle in the traditional way. More disturbing is the high rate of accumulation of polythene bags of all kinds from our Foam and Pure-water packaging industries, which are unfortunately hard to decompose naturally. Regrettably, however, there is no organized programmes for disposal of effluent and industrial wastes. In fact, Oyaigbevwen (1988: p. 39) observed that "many factories in Nigeria discharge their wastes directly into our rivers or streams or unashamedly into open gutters."

Perhaps a more devastating and disturbing impact of industrialization and urbanization on the environment is the depletion of the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere which has already made headlines. The main causal factor of this problem is believed to be the release of chlorine from chloroflourocarbons (CFC`s) contained in chemicals used in aerosol propellants, refrigerant gases and many other applications. Chlorine in an unstable state reacts with and break down ozone to increase the volume of concentration of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxides in the atmosphere, which are the principal factors in dreaded catastrophe (i.e global warming).

Law and Smith, (1993, P. 44) reported that the current estimated level of ozone depletion from the atmosphere is about 8%. This volume may appear small if it is realised that it is a global problem. In particular, in this part of the world where industrial development is yet to reach even the take-off stage, it is easy to feel and think that our contribution to this global problem is not significant and therefore poses no risk what so ever to our lives. It is true that this problem is most seriously caused by the advanced industrial countries, and so far the drive to do something about ozone depletion has mainly come from the governments of the developed countries. It is also true that the developing countries have lower capacity to generate CFC`s and other greenhouse gases, and they have fewer resources to implement the UNO Montreal Protocol (1987 and 1990) agreement to phase out the production and consumption of CFC`s and carbon tetrachloride by the year 2000. However, we have a choice of either to adopt and follow the line of development in the advanced countries which is responsible for the problems we are discussing and subject the future of our environment and our health to abject jeopardy, or adapt an industrialization path, intensify our local efforts through proper utilization and management of our resources in order to avoid all fundamental causes of the dreaded Beast and therefore safeguard our future and that of our environment.
Policy Implications for a sustainable environment
The ultimate goal of industrialization and all socio-economic development is (or should be) to improve the quality of life of our people. However, the process of development necessarily involves the use, modification and re-creation of the environment. Consequently therefore, preservation of the quality of the environment is an essential component of the quality of live of the citizens. It is therefore necessary and expedient to think and act properly with a view to integrating industrialization and environmental quality, as complementary (not competing) aspects of the process of national development. In the light of the above, some environmental control measures which must be considered as part of the overall national policy on environment are suggested below:

1. Industrial Pollution control: which should include imposition of pollution levy on pollution industries. Such levy therefore internalizes what was previously regarded as externalities. This approach will necessarily increase the accounted production cost of the industry. The affected industry on the other hand will consider the best response to the levy such as to avoid some, or all of the levy by adjusting operations, through effluent treatment, relocation of plant, changes in production methods or material.

2. Recycling:- this is in the sense of the re-use of a specific impact or output. Wastes including paper, metallic, and vehicle scraps, polythene and plastics, which clog our streets and gutters could be recycled. Recycling is usually an expensive venture but has intrinsic social and economic benefits associated with it. This include extension of the resource life, reduction in the demand for land for disposal purposes, and reduction in pollution due to the reduction in residuals disposed of directly into the environment. The overall effect is improvement in people 's health and social wellbeing.

3. Sponsorship of research: on recycling and the re-using of wastes. This can be embarked upon by both government and industries.

4. Environmental impact assessment: already the FEPA has taken major steps in this direction by compelling industries to prepare and present an EIA document in respect of the affected industry. The FEPA on the other hand issues to the industry an Environmental Impact Statement to enable it go into, or continuing operations. However, this is yet to be felt nation wide. EIA is an analysis of the expected environmental consequences of a proposed project and how to mitigate its consequences.

5. Environmental Education and awareness: must be an essential starting point for the implementation of any policy on the environment. In fact, the UNESCO 's medium-term plan (1984-89) recognizes environmental education as a leading pre-requisite for solving world environmental problems. To be helpful, Nigeria needs and environmental education and awareness policy that is aimed at fostering more precise understanding of the problems and arousing the desire for active participation in measures to solve them. Our people should be made to understand and accept the fact that we are part of the environmental system and not external to it.

Conclusion It is a paradox that industrial development as a process is a factor in environmental degradation. The reality however is that industrialization and environmental quality should be seen as mutually reinforcing and interdependent factors in our drive for social and economic development. But we must be properly educated and also accept our responsibilities for maintaining a healthy, ecologically balanced environment now and for future generations.

References Law, N. and Smith, D. (1993); Problem-Solving Geography: Analysis in a Changing World. ST(P) Ltd.

Okafor, F. C. (1988); Rural Development and the Environment:Degradation versus protection. In Sada, P.O. and Odemerho F.O. (Eds.) Environmental Issues and Management in Nigerian Development. Evans, Nigeria. pp. 150-163.

Oyaigbevwen, V. O. (1988); A Conceptual Framework for an EnvironmentalManagement Policy. In Sada, P.O. and Odemerho F. O. (ibid.) pp. 38-45.
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[1]Paper was presented at the Environmental Management Training Workshop organized by the Adamawa State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) jointly with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), 30th July, 1997.

References: Law, N. and Smith, D. (1993); Problem-Solving Geography: Analysis in a Changing World. ST(P) Ltd. Okafor, F. C. (1988); Rural Development and the Environment:Degradation versus protection. In Sada, P.O. and Odemerho F.O. (Eds.) Environmental Issues and Management in Nigerian Development. Evans, Nigeria. pp. 150-163. Oyaigbevwen, V. O. (1988); A Conceptual Framework for an EnvironmentalManagement Policy. In Sada, P.O. and Odemerho F. O. (ibid.) pp. 38-45. ----------------------- [1]Paper was presented at the Environmental Management Training Workshop organized by the Adamawa State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) jointly with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), 30th July, 1997.