Noise Pollution and the Rest of Us – By Dr. Jideofor Adibe

Posted by admin Articles, Columnists, Jideofor Adibe, PhD, NNP Columnists Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

By Dr. Jideofor Adibe, London, UK – Nov. 22, 2011 – I was jolted by a recent report that the federal government will soon come up with a standard guideline to regulate noise level in the country. According to a report in the Next (online) of November 9, 2011, the deputy director, Pollution Control Department in the Federal Ministry of Environment, Ahmed Alfa, said that “a detailed study would be conducted by the ministry in collaboration with some stakeholders, including the Federal Ministry of Health and Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO) before coming up with the guideline.” Mr Alfa was further reported as saying that efforts by the ministry to conduct such a study in the past had been hindered by lack of funds and expressed optimism that this time around the federal government would make some funds available for the project.

The first few questions that came to my mind after reading the report were: So there is actually a department for controlling pollution in this country? So there is an agency with a responsibility for fighting noise pollution in this country? What in Nigerian context should be regarded as noise pollution? For the latter question, I immediately came to the conclusion that the WHO standard of using noise level of more than 90 decibels to delineate what constitutes noise pollution will not suffice in our situation. This is because we may have noise levels below that threshold coming simultaneously or intermittently from different sources all year round and combining in their staccato to cause discomfort and wreak health havoc: there may be the roadside trader jingling bells to attract attention to his wares; the preacher who is walking from one street corner to the other shouting with or without the aid of a microphone, cars speeding on nearby streets blaring their horns intermittently, people breaking into fights or open quarrels once in a while or cars speeding by with their windows wound down and playing music as loud as they could. Our open markets, in contrast to open markets in other countries, appear to be one cacophony of noise pollution. They really do not need to be so. And then there are the religious bodies that often put their loudspeakers outside their buildings and do not care a hoot whether residents need to exercise their right to be left alone. The pervasiveness of noise pollution in our country is perhaps one reason Nigerians will readily describe their country as a ‘jungle’.

I am of course aware that Lagos is one of the few States in the country that has tried to do something about noise pollution. Earlier this year, the State said its research in some public schools in the State showed that about 60 percent of the pupils in those schools had hearing impairments as a result of regular exposure to noise pollution. The government identified some religious bodies as incorrigible noise polluters and issued directives which led to the sealing off of some religious buildings in the State. Most of our religious bodies have no qualms placing their loudspeakers outside their buildings and turning the volumes to their highest decibels. I am not sure the highly commendable action by the Lagos State government has been sustained the way it should. But the State is better than most others which appear to treat the menace as a non-issue or at best a nuisance that people should learn to live with.

But this shouldn’t be so. Researchers tell us that the health hazards associated with noise pollution go beyond hearing impairment. Apart from the discomfort it brings, we are told it also increases the propensity for violence by the annoyance and aggression it triggers in us. Is it then possible that much of the aggression we see around us in this country, especially in our open markets, is attributable, at least in part, to noise pollution? Research has also established that chronic exposure to noise can cause hypertension – a leading cause of several health problems – as well as tinnitus, which can lead to memory loss, forgetfulness, severe depression and even panic attacks. Noise pollution has equally been fingered in several coronary diseases and in significant increases in blood pressure.

Given the health and environmental hazards associated with noise pollution, one will wonder why it took the Federal Ministry of Environment so long to wake up to the challenges posed by the menace. The excuse of lack of funds by Ahmed Alfa is not very convincing. My instinct tells me that the lethargy is in line with our way of doing things, where prevention usually takes back seat to the scampering for a cure once the illness has broken out. We will wait until someone thought to be healthy drops dead in the street from hypertension caused in part by noise pollution before we will start scouting for explanations and theories, which will inevitably end in some people attributing such a death to some family members or enemies who maliciously ‘jazzed’ the departed to his early grave. The move by the Pollution Control Department of the Federal Ministry of Environment to develop guidelines for regulating noise levels in the country is late in coming. But as they say it is better to be late than never. We only hope that the ‘study’ will not be just another ‘job for the boys’. Many Nigerians will like to see the ‘study’ lead quickly to the development of guidelines that will be strictly enforced across the country.

I suggest that the proposed study should also address the various reasons why many Nigerians do not bother about complaining about noise pollution and will apparently choose to die in silence rather than complain. Though Nigerians are generally people who stand up for their rights, it is not always so when it comes to noise pollution. Compare our apparent complacency in this regard with the situation in many advanced countries. In the UK for instance, the local councils received as many as 315,838 complaints about noise pollution from private residences between April 2008 and 2009, which resulted in environmental health officers serving 8,069 noise abatement notices or citations under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act. Similarly in the US, Noise Free America, a national anti-noise pollution organisation, regularly lobbies for the enforcement of noise ordinances at all levels of government. Nigeria desperately needs such lobby groups to partner with the government in sensitising the citizens about their rights to be protected from noise pollution. Nigerians also need to know who to complain to when they feel that their right to be protected from noise pollution is being violated. The proposed guidelines should ensure that offenders are properly sanctioned, including in some cases getting jail terms without any option of fine to serve as deterrence to others because apart from its health and environmental implications, noise pollution is also in many ways an intrusion into people’s privacy and the right to be left alone.

The 19^th century American politician Nathaniel Macon once reportedly advised his countrymen that: “No man should live where he can hear his neighbour’s dog bark.” Macon was of course referring to the deleterious effects of noise. In an orderly society, your choice of where to live or work could be one way of insulating yourself from noise pollution. Unfortunately in Nigeria, even if you have the means to choose where you want to live or work, you may not necessarily have the means to prevent churches and mosques from coming near you or reaching your ear drums, at any time of the day, even midnights, with their microphones which are turned to their highest decibels. And woe betides you if you muster the courage to go and tell them to lower the noise decibels while preaching the word of God. Even if we have the means to choose where we live, we may not have any control over markets developing overnight on that street, with some constantly ringing bells to attract attention to their wares. We may also not have the means to decide on how cars hoot their horns or how loud music and video shops should play their systems. This is where the government comes in. And this is where a clearly defined set of enforceable guidelines will be an indispensable aid to vulnerable citizens.

The author can be reached at: pcjadibe@yahoo.comwp_posts

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