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Global Plastic Pollution and the Nigerian Dimensions
Summary
This review examines global plastic pollution trends with a focus on Nigeria, covering plastic production history, environmental distribution, ecological effects, and policy challenges in the West African context. The authors document how weak waste management infrastructure and high plastic consumption growth rates make Nigeria particularly vulnerable to microplastic pollution in rivers, coastlines, and food chains.
Plastic pollution has surged from 1.5 million tons produced in the 1950s to 335 million tons in 2016, with 9–23 million metric tons entering aquatic systems annually. This review examines plastic pollution’s characteristics—diversity, persistence, and combined effects with other contaminants—and its geophysical and biological impacts globally, complemented by a case study on Nigeria. Plastics disrupt carbon and nutrient cycles and threaten over 900 marine species via ingestion and entanglement. In Nigeria, sachet water and poor waste management contribute 0.13–0.34 million tons to oceans yearly, ranking it ninth globally, undermining Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) like health (SDG 3), water quality (SDG 6), and marine life (SDG 14). Solutions include legislation, education, and improved infrastructure, tailored to Nigeria’s context. This paper fills gaps by addressing macro- and nanoplastics, terrestrial systems, and Nigeria’s unique challenges, urging region-specific strategies for this poorly reversible pollutant.
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