Reports that 13 students collapsed at Ogba Junior Secondary School in Lagos after inhaling a gaseous emission at the school premises are alarming and worrisome. It is equally unacceptable that the incident occurred five months after 25 students in the same school fainted after inhaling a similar emission, whose exact cause and origin the Lagos State Government is yet to unravel, let alone take necessary measures to prevent a recurrence and safeguard the lives of citizens in the area. This criminal negligence and dereliction of duty by Governor Babatunde Fashola is inexcusable.
Available accounts said the latest incident occurred around 1:00 pm when students in one of the classes were suddenly overwhelmed with the gaseous emission and started fainting. The gaseous substance is believed to have emanated from the administrative block of the school which shares the same fence with the Ogba Shopping Mall, which houses several small scale companies, shops and Ecobank. The affected students, who included 12 girls and one boy, were admitted to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) and were responding to treatment; but for one student reported to be in critical condition. The incident compelled the school authorities to evacuate the premises immediately and shut down the school. The mall was also shut down by Lagos Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) officials while hundreds of people working in the shopping complex were evacuated.
To have rendered the students unconscious in the two instances, points to the fact that whatever gas they inhaled was poisonous, a fact that underscores the dangers of exposure to pollution. The situation could have been more critical or even result in fatalities for instance if the emission was lethal; or if the concentration had been higher. It is a relief that all but one of the students who were rushed to the hospital have been responding to treatment, but that should not foreclose an official investigation and public enlightenment, as was the case earlier when the 25 students fainted and the school was closed and reopened without the authorities taking any measures to ensure the students and residents in the surrounding areas were safe. 
What is the guarantee that the same gas or perhaps more deadly ones will not be emitted again? Is the health of the affected pupils being monitored for any adverse consequence following the incident?
These and other relevant questions surely must be in the minds of parents, teachers and residents around the mall; and these posers need to be answered promptly to put their mind at rest. When the first incident involving 25 students occurred, the Head of Logistics of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Mr. Femi Giwa stated that “certain liquid chemicals, with offensive odor, used for production in a photo lab on the first floor of the Ogba shopping mall could have led to the incident.” At the time, he had not identified the chemicals. This time around, the public needs to know if the chemicals have been subsequently identified.
There should be thorough scientific investigation to determine the real cause. Both the gas and its source should be identified for preventive measures to be taken. There are over 50 kinds of highly toxic gases that could prove fatal when inhaled in large quantity. These include bromine (Br2), carbon monoxide (CO), chlorine (Cl2) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S). Human contact with any of these toxic gases could manifest in suffocation, fainting, irritation of the eyes and skin leading to blisters. Extreme exposure could be fatal.
It is for this reason that industrial establishments should be sited away from human habitation. Even at that, environmental factors like wind direction and effluents discharge in drainage are to be given due consideration. Effluents released in one part of the city could be transported to another part by air currents or water flow. Some may seep into groundwater.
The latest air pollution incident follows a pattern in Lagos. On October 12, 2005, Lagosians woke up to unusual smog with high intensity choking fumes in the early morning atmosphere, which lasted for about six hours. The overhanging smog, which could have resulted from a mixture of fog and smoke and other airborne pollutants, was perhaps the first of its kind in Nigeria. To date, no scientific explanation has been offered as to the cause of that incident just like in the present case. The three incidents point to the need for the Lagos State authorities to step up a systematic air quality monitoring program, which should be made public through the mass media to create awareness.
The authorities should also rise up to the challenge of tracking and monitoring industrial activities that have the potential to release poisonous effluents in water or air. The Ministry of the Environment or an agency of government charged with the responsibility for environmental protection such as the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) has responsibility in this regard.
Without a systematic monitoring to ascertain the space and time of air quality in a densely populated city like Lagos, such injurious incidents would continue to occur without warning. It is not known how proactive the Lagos Air Quality Monitoring Study (LAQMS) initiated by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) in 2007 has been. If the agency is dutifully performing its duties, it should be able to pinpoint the nature and source of the pollution that occurred at the Ogba School. The state government should get to the root of the incident, and where lapses are attributable to human negligence, those responsible should be held accountable and sanctioned according to law.
Millions of Nigerians, particularly in Lagos, are daily exposed to deleterious fumes emanating from rickety vehicles, numerous generators and myriads of industrial establishments in close proximity to residential areas. Poor physical planning, poverty and inadequate public infrastructure are partly at the root of this problem. It is ridiculous that in many parts of the city, hazardous industrial establishments share fences with residential homes. Public authorities should not wait for an environmental calamity before taking steps to protect the country’s environment and save the citizens from hazardous wastes.
