See the most polluted cities in Nigeria

– The WHO released a 2016 update on the most polluted cities in the world – Onitsha ranked as the most polluted city in the world The World Health Organisation’s Urban Ambient Air Pollution Database (2016) has unveiled the list of the world’s most polluted cities.

Onitsha, a fast growing city in Anambra state, in the south-east of Nigeria, has been ranked the world’s most polluted city according to a report released by the World Economic Forum.

The report says: “Of the 3,000 cities in the WHO’s air quality database, the most polluted at the time of measurement was Onitsha, a fast-growing city in Nigeria, which recorded roughly 30 times more than the WHO’s recommended levels of PM 10 particles. Peshawar in Pakistan was in second place, followed by Zabol in Iran.” According to the WHO, an air quality monitor there registered 594 micrograms per cubic metre of microscopic PM10 particles, and 66 of the more deadly PM2.5s. Onitsha’s pollution is almost twice as bad as extremely polluted cities such as Kabul, Beijing and Tehran and 30 times worse than London.

 “We know pollution is very bad here. But this city must be much better than Lagos,” Solomon Okechukwa, a sceptical Anambra state official told The Guardian. Three others cities that were included in the top-20 are Kaduna, Aba, Umuahia (Abia state). Owerri, Nsukka, Enugu, Ile-Ife, Abakaliki, Afikpo, Nnewi, Orlu are also on the list.

Most large cities in the developing world are breaching global air pollution guidelines, according to new data from the World Health Organization. The database builds on well-established, public air quality monitoring systems as a source of reliable data in different parts of the world. National efforts to create operational and representative air quality monitoring systems should be strongly encouraged and supported.