By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Nigeria has been ranked 168 out of 180 countries in the Environment Performance Index (EPI) 2022.
Nigeria, which is also 41st out of 46 countries in the sub-Saharan region, scored 28.32 out of 100 on ‘environment and sustainability’.
The 2022 report was unveiled by researchers at Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy and Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University’s Earth Institute wrote the report.
This means Africa’s most populous country has failed to protect its population from environmental health risks, which include poor air quality, heavy metals, sanitation and drinking water as well as waste management.
NatureNews reports that over 200 peraoms were hospitalised in Kano last week after inhaling chemicals from a gas leakage.
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Experts say the incident again exposed how poor regulation and lapses in the enforcement of laws on the environment endangers millions of Nigerians.
Nigeria is the 53rd most climate vulnerable country, according to Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index, but is the 6th least-ready country in the world to adapt to climate change.
The country is ranked among the poorest performing nations in the African continent on this metric along with Chad, Mauritania, Madagascar, Ghana and Liberia.
The EPI report says in the sub-Saharan region, Seychelles ranked first with a global score of 32 (out of 100), followed by Botswana (35) and Sao Tome and Principe (38).
EPI is an international ranking system that measures environmental health and sustainability of countries. The assessment is based on 40 performance indicators, which are listed under three policy objectives: Environmental health, ecosystem vitality and climate change.
Nigeria, along with Cameroon, Central African Republic, India, Pakistan and Lesotho, is among the six worst-performing nations in the world on environmental health.
A report by the State of Global Air indicated that about 68,500 people died due to poor air quality in 2019, and at least 1,650 people died due to ozone pollution in 2019.
