Nigeria is taking concrete steps towards transitioning to low-sulphur fuels in line with international standards, the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, has announced.
Speaking in Abuja during the commemoration of the third International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, Lawal said the Federal Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with agencies such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), has reviewed petroleum product standards in line with AFRI IV specifications, with implementation to begin soon.
The Minister added that the Federal Government is promoting cleaner transportation by discouraging the importation of old vehicles, encouraging local vehicle manufacturing, and supporting the use of alternative fuels such as Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). He further disclosed that the government has approved a Green Hydrogen Project in partnership with UNIDO and is working on a framework for establishing vehicular emissions testing centres nationwide.
Lawal highlighted additional initiatives, including a forthcoming National Policy on Air Quality Management and the youth-led National Clean Air Programme under the slogan #BreatheEasyNigeria. He noted that an MoU was also signed between the Department of Pollution Control and Environmental Health and the Environmental Health Council of Nigeria to extend clean air advocacy to all 774 local government areas.
Underscoring the urgency, the Minister said air pollution is the leading environmental health risk globally, causing more than seven million deaths annually—exceeding malaria and HIV/AIDS combined. In Nigeria, he identified bush burning, vehicular emissions, gas flaring, and venting as major contributors to poor air quality.
Earlier, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mahmud Kambari, described the National Clean Air Programme as a coordinated framework to safeguard public health and align Nigeria with global best practices.
The International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, he said, reinforces the global target of reducing all forms of air pollution by 50 percent by 2030.
