Air of Uncertainty from pollution profiteers: Status of ambient air quality of sawmill industry in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract We can’t stop breathing, but we can do something about the quality of air that we breathe. Clean fresh air is indispensable ingredient for a good life quality. Individuals poses the right towards expecting that the breathed air will not harm people. Thus, fighting air pollution will not only improve health outcomes, productivity, and well-being, it’s also essential toward reducing the emissions of greenhouse gas as well as fighting climate change. For examples, a third of the global population is at risk from unhealthy of ambient air pollutants concentrations, with the loss of approximately 6.4 million healthy-life-years attributed specifically to chronic exposure to ambient particulate matter. Expert panels have consistently rated air pollution as a greater health hazard than water pollution. Pollution of air is the leading source of unexplained and undiagnosed diseases, besides have remained associated with a variety of serious human health risks, and in fact, a threshold has not been established under which these pollutants exert no adverse effects. This study evaluates ambient air quality at major sawmill sites in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria. “Measurements of Air pollution were accurately carried out using direct reading, automatic in situ gas monitors; Hand held mobile multi-gas monitor with model AS8900 [Combustible (LEL), and Oxygen (O2)], BLATN with model BR – Smart Series air quality monitor (PM10, Formaldehyde) and air quality multimeter with model B SIDE EET100 (Dust (PM2.5), VOC, Temperature and Relative Humidity)”. The outcomes disclosed among others, the average concentrations of CO, O2 as well as other measured parameters for instance formaldehyde (HcHo) etc., they are also consistently low as well as within acceptable range in terms of National as well as Global monitoring standards for air quality indices. However, there are few exceptions for instance the average volatile organic compounds (VOCs) concentrations, PM2.5, PM10 as well as Combustible (LEL) respectively, which are higher when compared to National and Global standards. This high figure is due to pollutant amount existing in the sawmills air environment resulting from input of influents from activities of the sawmill. However, as a result, air pollution in the city of Ilorin is found to be increasingly polluted and are of major health concern because of their synergistic action. Due to the high evidences and values, it can lead to a remarkable rise in over-all figure of hospital visits/ patients’ admissions with acute respiratory illnesses as soon as air pollutants level remained high. Hence, there is the need for an aggressive control of ambient air pollution.