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So,
You Pass Your Neighbour? (Part I): The Sneaky Fumes Of
death
28 January 2011
By
Zulfikar Aliyu Adamu
Background
For a country
that has been gasping in the fumes of generators for
over two decades, it has become a status symbol to be
seen as being able to buy one. And since owning a
generator also comes with small matters like fuelling
it – regularly, it has become an economic indicator
for many who are eager to be associated with it, in
order to distance themselves from society’s have-nots.
In our uniquely Nigerian way of showing off, being a
generator owner gives the wife that significant edge
over the neighbours when Super Story is being aired at
night. The husband is also able to walk into the house
with that extra swagger, as he dangles the car keys
after a hard day at work. The corruption and chronic
incompetence (at the top level) which has supervised
the decay in the power sector can only be matched by
the over-zealous sense of vanity and sheer avarice (at
the bottom level), which led to the common man to name
a particular generator brand: ‘I pass my neighbour’.
Clearly, those who derive pleasure in ‘passing’ their
neighbours would not spurn the opportunity to buy a
larger and noisier device, given the right economic
circumstance. And so the endless race to outdo each
other in all aspects continues.
Ideally, the
purchase a generator and the ability to fuel it every
day should be seen as an economic waste and a sign of
systemic failure, but not in Nigeria. Stories abound
of how residents who had purchased a bigger, louder
and costlier generator would silently pray for
prolonged power outage so that they can outperform the
neighbours with their longer-lasting source of
electricity. There is indeed an element of feudalism
in many of us, Nigerians.
If you are one
of those who strive to surpass their neighbour with a
generator, well, I have news for you and most of it is
bad: you may actually end up passing your neighbour
but on your way to the great beyond - the land of no
return.
This article
aims to enlighten members of the unsuspecting public
about the hazards that come with owning and utilising
generators in our homes, and by extension offices and
other places of abode/work in Nigeria. It begins with
a chronicle of some unfortunate but well popularised
incidents of domestic fatalities that were caused by
generators; and then overviews how the location of
generators (operating near the windows; dragged
indoors at night or secured in a generator house)
can/have been affecting the health and well being of
residents. Conclusively, some suggestions are provided
which can offer guidance on how to tackle the menace
of ‘passing our neighbours’.
Of political and electrical power
As far as the
common man in Nigeria is concerned, vision 2020 is
just grammar in the mouths of politicians. What he
requires is vision 20-NOW, but our government is
either oblivious to this fact; or is unable to act due
to acts of commission or omission. As of today (31stDecember
2010), we have successfully raised a generation of
Nigerians (i.e. those born around 1985) who cannot
claim to know the good old days; - that is, the good
old days of steady power - because the last time days
were really good in Nigeria, was in the year...erhm,
hold on... sorry, a quick check on my calendar reveals
I wasn’t even born then, but anyway, you get the
message. Now consider that on the 7th of
November 2010, a news item appeared in the online
version of ThisDay newspaper where it was reported
that Demeji Bankole, Leader of the House of
Representatives, stated in response to the desire for
steady electricity that: “no consideration was
being given to importers and suppliers of
generators”, which by his estimate “is a
billion dollar industry that needs to be protected”.
The political
and economic merits or demerits of this statement from
the third most powerful Nigerian official; as well as
its implication on our national development is a
subject currently being dealt with in many a forum. My
interest in this matter is largely on health and
safety grounds. But from his comment, and as we move
into 2011, it looks like another generation of
Nigerians will miss out on steady power for a long
time. But before you tick generator in the list of
must-have items for the New Year, maybe you ought to
read further.
That Nigerians
are dying endlessly and needlessly is not news,
unfortunately; as bomb blasts in our country don’t
even get headline news on CNN and BBC anymore. What is
also disheartening is that many of us (buyers and
owners of generators) are unknowingly taking actions
which can be injurious to our health and rather fatal
as well.
The sneaky fumes of death – A timeline
On Wednesday,
16th of July 2008, Reuters News Agency
reported that generator fumes had killed 17 people at
a prayer meeting in Isiala Ngwa, Abia State of
Nigeria. According to the story, ‘the victims fell
asleep on a Saturday in a locked room with the
generator still running ...only for their bodies to be
discovered the following morning’. Ali Okechukwu, the
police spokesperson stated that inhalation of carbon
monoxide was been suspected, and that investigations
(yeah, right) was ongoing as at press time.
Unfortunately, I am unable to provide readers with a
follow-up on the Sherlock Holmes inquest that ensued,
if ever there was one.
However, it
did not take long before one of the survivors (A
certain Mr. Linus Abba) explained that: "I heard
strange noises and noticed that the room where we
slept was filled with smoke, that is all I can
remember because I fainted," Abba told Reuters,
and being a Nigerian, he spiced it up with theological
logic: "It was a terrible attack by the forces of
darkness that we came to fight." Hmm, forces of
darkness indeed. I only wish he was referring to some
of the clueless people holding sway in sensitive
positions in Nigeria, and not some ‘ancestral spirits’
of the evil kind. 17 people died in one fell swoop and
yet, the bad news doesn’t stop here.
On Tuesday, 6th of January, 2009; generator fumes
again killed a family of 13 in Ohaji-Egbema in South
Eastern Nigeria. In this mishap, a family which had
converged for Christmas and New Year festivities had
gone to bed without remembering to switch off the
generator which powered the TV set. Relatives woke up
the next morning to find 13 corpses which were
confirmed to have died from inhaling carbon monoxide.
Similarly, on the 13th of July 2009, ThisDay Newspaper
reported another catastrophic misadventure in which
generator fumes killed 3 people in Lagos. A couple and
their mother-in-law had apparently died quietly at
night on account of breathing fumes (from a generating
set) which had snuck up on them as they slept. The
deceased were survived by two daughters who were
(fortunately) only rendered unconscious by the noxious
gas.
Roughly one year later, the Champion Newspaper
reported (via AllAfrica.com) that 2 people (a mother,
Mrs. Tawa Alabede and her daughter, Sukura) had been
asphyxiated by the all-consuming fumes from their
generating set. This was on the 9th of July, 2010. And
as recently as Monday the 4th of October 2010, the
pernicious fumes were at it again when, according to
Punch Newspapers, two love birds were sent to the
great beyond while they slept with a generator working
somewhere in their kitchen.
But one
particular incident should be of deep interest to all
of us. Sometime in August 2009 (reported on the 22nd),
it was the unfortunate turn of a new bride (Fadila
Abdulkadir) to be smothered by the deadly fumes when
she decided to take a bath in preparation for her
wedding; as reported by Daily Trust. The peculiar
aspect of this case is that the incident did not
follow the familiar template of overnight suffocation.
This was in Katsina, in broad daylight, with friends;
relatives and of course a proud groom all excited and
waiting. But when she took too long to come out of the
shower, they decided to investigate. Based on the
accounts of witnesses who discovered her, the bathroom
was ‘stuffy with fumes’ emanating from a generator
that was stored there. The unconsciousness, which she
did not recover from, must have been as swift as death
was assured. Now, the time it takes for a person to
take a typical shower varies; but for co-residents to
be worried that a person is ‘taking too long’, this
person could have spent anything from 30 - 60 minutes
in the bathroom. As she was found already unconscious,
we can safely assume that she had been overwhelmed
within 15 - 20 minutes or so, of showering. Think
about it!
There are many
more tales like these, but these one will suffice for
now.
In most of
these instances, the notorious but harmless looking I
pass my neighbour generator seemed to be the
secondary culprit, even though generators of bigger
sizes can be even more deadly. I regard generators as
secondary culprits because like guns, carbon monoxide
is simply an agent of death. The real killers are a
bunch of threesome outlaws. First is the incapacity (maybe
unwillingness?) of government to provide people with
steady power; followed secondly by insecurity -
as evident in the desire to secure generators within
inhabited rooms including bathrooms. Thirdly, there is
of course ignorance on the part of the populace
who buy off-the-shelf generators (usually as a source
of electric power; and passively as way of oppressing
the neighbours) - oblivious to the dangers that lie
therein. This ignorance is the crux of this article
and I shall elaborate further.
Carbon monoxide 101: The silent killer
Now, carbon
monoxide is not the greyish or blackish smoke that
comes out of the silencer of your tokunboh car, okada
bike or generator set. Carbon monoxide is indeed a
colourless, odourless and tasteless gas. Whereas smoke
in general does tend to contain carbon monoxide as a
constituent effluent of combustion, the proportions of
carbon monoxide depend on what is actually burning.
But this toxic constituent of smoke is not called the silent
killer for nothing. When carbon monoxide is
inhaled into the lungs, it permeates into the blood
stream where an oxygen-depriving chemical reaction
takes place. The carbon monoxide molecules would
stubbornly attach themselves to your red blood cells
leading to carboxyhaemoglobin; a process where oxygen
molecules in your blood are overthrown by carbon
monoxide molecules. This coup is, well, very bloody to
say the least.
The lack of
oxygen in your blood can have short or long term
effects, with high dosage of carbon monoxide in a
short time being the most dangerous, leading to death.
Nevertheless, evidence from research suggests that low
dose/exposure over a long term can be equally as
deadly. Apart from killing, carbon monoxide (let us
call it CO as from now) also has a disastrous effect
on pregnant women and the unborn. It can render people
brain dead and can tamper with the neurological
(cognitive and behavioural) aspects of those who
escape from its clutches. The list of potential damage
from carboxyhaemoglobin to your health is actually
longer, but frankly I am eager to conclude the
horrifying portions of this write up. The question now
is, how do we fall into (and how can we avoid) the
silent traps of CO?
Placement of generators and air
movement
There are
three classic scenarios of locating generator sets in
Nigerian homes/buildings. In the first instance, the
generators tend to be located close to the building,
usually in the proximity of windows. In the second
case, the generators are usually large and noisy
enough to warrant a ‘generator house’ typically
located along the property fence/wall. Thirdly, there
are circumstances when generators are relocated
indoors, usually as a way of safe guarding them from
thieves. All these cases come with their own unique
problems or hazards as explained further below.
(a) Mini-Generators close to buildings or windows
The most
crucial aspect of any airborne contaminant is how it
behaves in an (enclosed) environment with respect to
air movement or ventilation. A field survey may
provide clues, because it is not clear to me, why
exactly it is that many residents appear to place
their small-generators close to buildings or windows.
It could be due to the short length of transmitting
cables, or the need to secure the generator by
listening to its chugging sound (can Nigerian crooks
steal a running generator, you bet they can!); or it
could be for other reasons. What is clear is that
people are ignorant of the dangers posed by migrating
fumes and gases. This is a typical example of what
happened in the case of the 17 people who died in Isiala
Ngwa; the dead family of 13 in Ohaji-Egbema as well as
the case of Late Mrs. Tawa Alabede and her deceased
daughter.
As windows are
usually designed and placed to provide fresh air, in
most instances buildings are therefore under negative
pressure, with respect to the exterior. Meaning, air
will move from higher pressure (external atmosphere)
to the interior. The driving force for this air
movement or natural ventilation can be wind and/or
buoyancy (stack effect) and this inflow of air brings
along with it dust, smells and gases. If such gases
being ushered in happen to be CO, then lives are
seriously at risk.
The most
natural, economic and logical solution to this problem
is steady electricity of course. But since there is
little evidence that it will happen before the year
2020, (very soon the Vision may quietly change to
Vision 2030, after all it was once Vision 2010); those
who own generators should endeavour to place them as
far away from any habitable room/building as possible.
It may mean longer transmitting cables or creating
small but secure cages or whatever, but the
alternative is either death or behavioural
deficits. Death as an option is a no-brainer; and as
for the latter, well, we have enough mad people in
Nigeria, I think. The challenge here is for
individuals to be able to make informed decisions
about where to place their generator sets relative to
the direction of prevailing breezes and location of
openings (windows). Those who sell these generating
sets appear to be no wiser than the buyers; the
user-manuals are horrible English translations of
Chinese documents, which do not even cover health and
safety matters. In short, the average Nigerian is not
equipped to deal with this problem. Now, as for the
authorities who are supposed to regulate the
importation, installation and operation of these
generators, well they _________________ (fill in the
blank yourself!).
(b) Large
generators at the building periphery
For those of
you who have been able to purchase those humongous
generators that terrorise the neighbours every night,
it is likely that you have also been able to build a
nice shelter for it, somewhere in the corner of your
backyard. The issue of pollution in this case has both
external/atmospheric as well as internal/indoor
consequences for human health. If the exhaust of this
generator is unfairly (and illegally) channelled into
your neighbours’ compound, then you may be guilty of
manslaughter (already) or someday. Or at the very
least, you will be gradually afflicting members of
your community with all sorts of ailment, ranging from
nausea, dizziness, headache, confusion,
disorientation, fainting, memory loss, seizures,
cerebral oedema and even coma. This may sound like
typical everyday symptoms of urban dwellers in Nigeria
today except for one small fact: medical doctors will
tell you that for people with underlying conditions
(the old, the sick) or the vulnerable ones (pregnant
women and babies); these ordinary sounding ailments
can have multiplier effects on their conditions or
impair their development (i.e. babies/children). The
challenge in this case is for laws that are
appropriate enough to (1) regulate the use of large
generators in urban areas and (2) allow aggrieved
members of community to complain or seek redress about
the dangers that such mechanical contraptions may pose
to the health and wellbeing of communities.
So, have you
really paid enough attention to the exhaust pipe
protruding into your compound, from the generator
house of that Alhaji or Chief who lives on the other
side of the wall? Look again.
(c) Internally
placed generators
Placing your
generator indoors (whether in an occupied room or
store/bathroom) is a foolhardy thing to do, unless it
is brand new and has never been switched on. Once a
generator begins to operate, it takes a long time (up
to weeks) for the fumes to completely stop being given
off. Remember the case of Fadila, the new bride who
went to take a shower? This process of giving off
fumes is called off-gassing and those who have
ever bought a brand new rug, or had their homes
repainted or bought a polished king-sized bed from the
local carpenter, may recall that it often takes
days/weeks for the smell to go away. These gases from
new rugs, new paint or wood varnishes are simply
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hardly do worse
than itchy eyes, running nose or something Alabukun
cannot handle. But that is off-gassing for the
uninitiated, and can be a serious matter in situations
leading to what is known as Sick Building Syndrome (SBS)
i.e. when the cause can’t be traced or the ailments
are random; or Building Related Illness (BRI) – when
the source/ailments can be identified.
However, for a
gas which is as toxic as CO, dragging your generator
indoors every night is like dancing on a tightrope
which is supported by Armed Robbers on one hand and
Kidnappers on the other; as you try to cross
crocodile-infested portions of River Niger. That you
and your family survive this duel every night is no
guarantee that you will enjoy your pensionable years
in good health and right senses; or that your children
will pass common entrance or WAEC exams. The choice is
yours. I hear that there was (again) massive failure
in WAEC recently, according to Daily Champion of 24
December 2010; with only 20% of candidates having 5
credits including English and Mathematics. This
failure could be due to the falling standards of
teaching, it could be due to juvenile delinquency or
truancy on the part of students, or it could be
because many of these pupils have been living and
studying in homes saturated by fumes of generators...
Who really knows? If we were a nation that valued data
collection, we could be able to correlate the massive
failures to living conditions. Maybe it is even poor
village people (who cannot afford generators), that
are mostly doing well in WAEC these days, I don’t
know. Do you?
Anyway,
whereas this article is focused on generators, the
consequences of keeping your motor bike indoors are
similar, as are those of a car in an unventilated
garage. In fact, the amount of CO given off by a car
that is parked after some minutes of driving is toxic
enough to...erhm, let me stop here; lest I start
giving suicidal desperados the wrong ideas on how to
extinguish their frustrations.
Conclusion
In conclusion,
the health impacts or consequences of CO fumes in our
homes may never be appreciated now, until sometime in
the future. Already, we know that in the academic
session ending 2010, only 20% of the students are
qualified to get direct admission into universities.
The intellectual and academic future of Nigeria is
indeed as foggy as the smoke from a poorly maintained
generator. Last year, (2009) when there was also
massive failure, WAEC came up with this brilliant
explanation: ‘It claimed that the examination
standard has remained the same over the years,
adding that it was the candidates’ attitude that
has changed. Other reasons for the mass failure,
according to the examination regulatory body, include poor
grammatical expression, failure to expatiate on
points, misinterpretation of questions, illegible
handwriting, wasting of time on unnecessary preambles
and poor diagrams’. All these reasons
sound like cognitive and behavioural problems to me,
and we have already established the fact that CO
poisoning can cause confusion, disorientation, memory
loss, cerebral oedema, etc. So maybe there is a
scientific explanation to these WAEC failures afterall.
Could it be that while parents are busy ‘passing’
their neighbours with generators at home, their
children are being surpassed academically in school?
For carboxyhaemoglobin,
it is the dose that makes the poison. Whether you step
into a bathroom which has served as a storage room for
your generator; or you allow the odourless fumes to
waft their way into your parlour as you watch Network
News, every night at 09:00pm - one way or the other
you are endangering your life and the lives of your
loved ones. Or you are messing up everyone’s health
and wellbeing, at the very least.
Ignorance
should not be an excuse, especially in today’s world,
where it has been postulated that the amount of
knowledge doubles every 2 to 5 years. What we do with
this knowledge is up to us, but in this era, knowing
is not even enough. Knowing first, can shape
economies, and define the pace of progress in a
competitive world. And after knowing, acting quickly
is equally important. This is the kind of discourse
that South Koreans, Malaysians, Europeans and
Americans are engaged in for the betterment of their
people. In comparison, we in Nigeria are like in the
Stone Age when it comes to Public Health and Safety on
account of the non-existent or archaic laws and
regulations that hold sway in our constitutions and
bye laws. I am not sure how many in our present
leadership actually understand what this means, but
for those that do, it is time to review the training
giving to building industry professionals as well as
enacting appropriate health and safety laws.
As of today,
we have laid undersea fibre optic cables; we have been
sending communication satellites into space and we
expect to be among the leading economies in the year
2020. Excuse me, but is it with 20% pass rate in WAEC
that we are going to advance in terms of ITC
technology, design and maintain new infrastructures
and join the G20 countries in 10 years time? Is
anybody actually thinking and planning for Nigeria’s
future? Or do we expect a sick nation populated by
brain-dead, cerebrally-faulty and
academically-challenged young men and women to take us
forward?
Role of
Architects, Builders, Facility Managers and Urban
Planners
As far as
building design and operation is concerned, there is
need for a serious upgrade of the curriculum in our
environmental design professions. To date, I am
unaware of any institution of learning in Nigeria that
offers any subject or specialisation resembling indoor
air quality. And mind you, we are even in the age of
airborne pandemics: SARS, Bird Flu and Swine Flu,
e.t.c. not to mention multi-drug resistant
tuberculosis (MDRTB). All professional courses dealing
with indoor environmental design
(architecture/building services) or community design
(urban planning) need to be reviewed from the
perspective of contemporary roles and challenges. As
far as I am aware, most Nigerian universities which
teach architecture are still using the same curricula
that have been in place since 1990. Many of these
schools are so conservatively backward; they won’t
even allow students to present their designs using
AutoCAD! For crying out loud, has nothing changed,
in TWENTY years? Where are the curriculum revision
committees? The same can be said for Building
Departments. The case of urban and regional planning
as a course/profession is equally important because
planners are better able to provide a community-based
assessment of design intentions and/or remedial
interventions.
All the above
issues, call for courses like Ventilation and Indoor
Air Quality, Advanced Natural Ventilation,
Environmental Pollution & Control as well as Health
Impact Assessment (HIA) to be earnestly introduced
into our universities. Without these, the upcoming
generation of professionals of the built environment
will be unequipped to deal with modernisation. Within
the context of generators, let us be clear: even in
advanced countries, there are occasions when
generators are still used till today. And based on
what Dimeji Bankole is suggesting, it seems the
problem of CO poisoning will not die a natural death
in Nigeria, irrespective of whether incumbency, zoning
or political mergers deliver our next president.
Role of
Health and Safety laws and public enlightenment
There is an
urgent need for laws which would regulate the use of
polluting agents like generators in both urban and
rural settings. As the government has a duty to ensure
the well-being of its citizenry, there must be a way
to regulate the purchase, installation and operation
of generators. Some of the legislation may be simple
steps for example, requiring the use of
battery-operated CO sensors in specific places such as
mass housing estates. Also, the general public
can/should be educated to purchase these items
individually. An average CO sensor cost about £30.00
(Thirty GB Pounds) or N7, 000 (Seven Thousand Naira) –
but before you grumble, ask yourself how much your
life/health is worth. These detectors when placed
sensibly can act just like fire alarms, giving a
deafening sound which alerts sleeping residents when
the indoor concentration of CO exceeds a stated limit.
In most normal countries (where laws for these kinds
of things exist) the limit for concentration of indoor
CO is set at about 10 parts per million (ppm). For a
layman, 1 ppm is like having 1 milligram of a
substance diluted in 1 litre of a fluid (water/air).
And 10 ppm is roughly 11.6 milligrammes of CO
particles in one cubic metre (mg/m3) of air. Another
gas (carbon dioxide or CO2) can only be harmful in
quantities ranging from 1000 to 5000 ppm in indoor air
– depending on how long the exposure time is. As you
can see, CO is quite toxic by comparison.
Again, we
cannot expect people to make/follow laws about
something which they know little or nothing about.
Therefore, there has to be a widespread effort at
educating the general public and crucially, members of
statutory bodies (federal and state legislators, urban
development boards or local governments). Ideally, and
to avoid a situation where your local councillor seeks
‘estacode’ in order to attend a ‘generator course’ in
one obscure college in Manchester, these bye-laws
should be handled from a Federal (top level) for
onward dissemination and implementation at the
grassroots. I can imagine some crafty
politician-cum-technocrat already licking his lips at
the prospect of yet another Agency to be established
in one of the ministries. How this legislation and
education is handled is important and will determine
how well we are able to protect the lives of our
people; but that (legislation) is not the objective of
this article. Others can take it from here.
The generators
that we buy for our buildings are essentially similar
in most parts of Nigeria. And based on the pace of our
trickling Mega Wattage and hints from Dimeji Bankole,
we can safely assume that such generators will be here
for a long time to come. The sooner we act to protect
our collective health and wellbeing, the better - if
we are to avoid further catastrophes. After all, you
never know what size of generator your neighbour is
planning to oppress you with in the coming New Year!
But before you think of surpassing him/her in 2011,
maybe you should consult your children’s recent
academic results for inspiration and guidance.
Have a happy
and safe 2011; and may we not 'pass our
neighbours' to the great beyond. Amen.
Zulfikar
Aliyu Adamu
Civil & Building Engineering Department,
Loughborough University, United Kingdom.
zulfikar.aliyu@gmail.com
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