The Federal Government has raised concerns over the growing burden of respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular conditions and other environment-related diseases linked to greenhouse gas emissions across Nigeria.
The warning was issued on Monday in Abuja by the Minister of Environment, Mr Balarabe Lawal, during a stakeholders’ engagement on the National Emergency Response to Environment-Related Diseases Arising from Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The meeting was organised by the Environmental Health Council of Nigeria.
Lawal, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr Mahmud Kambari, said evidence from environmental surveillance, health statistics and peer assessments showed a troubling rise in diseases linked to greenhouse gas emissions.
According to him, respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular conditions and other environmentally related diseases are increasing, stressing that the situation has moved beyond environmental concerns to become a public health emergency.
He said the burden of disease associated with poor environmental quality is growing faster than the health system can handle, adding that families are spending more on treatment, productivity is declining and environmental degradation is undermining national development goals.
Lawal noted that the absence of a coordinated national framework to address environmental health risks linked to greenhouse gas emissions has further worsened the situation.
Based on these concerns, the minister said the Federal Government, in partnership with EHCON and other stakeholders, has activated the National Emergency Response Initiative on Environmental Public Health Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
He explained that the initiative provides a coordinated national framework aimed at both immediate and long-term interventions through stronger environmental health regulations and enforcement.
According to him, the response plan includes the establishment of environmental health surveillance and response units nationwide, the promotion of cleaner energy, sustainable industrial practices, low-emission transport systems, and public awareness and behaviour-change campaigns.
Lawal assured that the ministry would continue to work with state governments, relevant agencies, development partners and civil society organisations to ensure environmental protection efforts translate into measurable public health outcomes.
He stressed that responsibility does not rest on government alone, adding that regulatory bodies, industries, as well as the transport and energy sectors, must all play active roles. He warned that the cost of inaction would be far greater than the cost of intervention, given the clear scientific and health evidence and the immediacy of the risks.
Data referenced at the meeting indicated that Nigeria’s disease burden linked to climate change could reach 21 per cent if current climate risk trends continue.
The projections indicate increases in climate-driven health challenges, including waterborne diseases, neglected tropical diseases such as Buruli ulcer and Guinea worm, diarrhoeal deaths among children under five, potentially accounting for 9.8 per cent of all diarrhoeal fatalities, as well as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension, asthma, respiratory illnesses, tuberculosis and vector-borne diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. Mental health cases are also expected to rise.
The most climate-vulnerable states identified include Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Taraba, Bauchi and Yobe, with other high-risk areas in parts of Niger, Kwara, southern Cross River, Imo and Abia states.
Projections further indicate that by 2050, temperatures could rise by between 1.0 and 1.1 degrees Celsius under moderate scenarios and up to 3.0 degrees Celsius in extreme cases, potentially doubling heat-related deaths. Increased rainfall is also expected to place an additional 800,000 people at risk of flooding by 2030.
