Nigeria is among the top three African countries with the highest mortality from air pollution. This was revealed in a report by Greenpeace Africa and Greenpeace MENA published on Thursday.

According to Greenpeace Africa and Greenpeace MENA, an independent environmental campaigning organisation, Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa are the most polluted countries in Africa.

The implication of the findings on air pollution is twofold: it has profound health consequences and negative impacts on climate change.

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The report revealed that pollutant emissions result in many premature deaths in Africa. It found that exposure to air pollution is the second leading risk factor for death on the continent.

“Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa are consistently found to have large disease burdens. It is in these nations where mortality linked to fossil fuel air pollution is greatest,” it stated.

“This report considers emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO2 and other oxides of nitrogen collectively known as NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) and particles including black carbon (BC).

“These pollutants are often closely linked to sectors responsible for significant fuel burning. These pollutants all contribute to the production of ‘secondary’ particle pollution, fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which is a leading risk factor for deaths in Africa. Once emitted into the air, exposure to each of these pollutants can be directly harmful to health,” added Greenpeace.

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Gas flaring, petroleum product refining, gas power plants, transportation, manufacturing, land use changes, waste, domestic cooking, bush burning and agriculture were identified as the key pollution sources in Nigeria.