One of the public health nuisances identified in the 1963 regional Public Health Laws in Nigeria is noise pollution. These laws make the generation of noise anywhere in Nigeria a punishable offence; so the law says that those who hoot their horns excessively, those who play their musical equipment on high volumes, those churches which mount Hauja and other loud speakers at the roofs and windows of their churches through which they disturb people and pollute the immediate physical environments of their neighbours are committing an offence under the Public Health Law in Nigeria.
Those mobile and domiciled record sellers and musical advertisers also commit the same offence, ditto siren abusers and herbal medicine advertisers. Those who tune in high volumes their radio and television sets commit the same offence, just as some children also pollute the environment of man through noise-making just as some of those who engage in construction works in one way or the other do. Some vehicles also generate noise pollution in the neighbourhood. Noise nuisance can also come from those church members who hold what the call ‘crusade’ in the night. The noise generated during such crusade activities from the loud speakers they mount and generators they use could be so nauseating and innocuous on those affected, irritating and disturbing.
While sound generally is harmless, noise, which could be described as excess and unwanted sound, could be very dangerous to public health and is everywhere in Nigeria today. Noise and sound is measured in decibel, and when sound is above certain decibels, it becomes a public health nuisance that goes ahead to affect the well-being of the hearer in one way or the other. These include affecting the ear cavity and inducing stressful situations as a result of listlessness and frustration, depression.
When NESREA was birthed in the early twenty-twenties and given the right to check and punish noise nuisance in Nigeria, many discerning public health professionals heaved a sigh of relief and thanked goodness that a Daniel had come to judgement after all; such Nigerians had hoped that since the environmental health officers could not actually abate noise nuisance and control it effectively by then, that the federal agency was going to give them succour in that regard as churches and other noise-generating sources were going to be checked nationwide in the interest of public health.
But such public health professionals were mistaken. This was because nothing tangible has come out from that angle till today. Noise nuisance has continued unabated, and noise generation has continued to plague the nation hitherto. Those who are to check noise nuisance are actually not doing that today with the result that more Nigerians are affected by noise nuisance in area of hearing loss and impairments.
Not many noise generators have been taken to courts and convicted by the law enforcement agents. So, when the news spread that the Lagos state government had banned the use of amplifiers at the various motor parks in the state is most assuring. Those who conceived the idea should be thanked and commended for thinking out how to save Lagosians from the health problems noise pollution brings to them. Such people should be praised for deciding to protect the health of their people and prolong their lives in the act.
I am even happier that the ban on use of amplifiers at Lagos motor parks was announced by the Special Adviser on Transport, Olawatoyin Fainka, and not his counterpart on health or environment whose responsibility it should be to take the necessary steps to protect the health of their people. This clearly shows that noise pollution really affects all strata of people in Lagos and all other parts of Nigeria and should be condemned and controlled immediately in the interest of public health.
This is where the environmental health officers that should abate noise nuisance have also failed Nigerians among other aspects of public health services; they have preferred ‘one or two premises’ inspection where they go ahead to intimidate their clientele and extort money from them in the process. They prefer to visit private schools where they demand monetary gains to checking noise nuisance in the country
The religious organisations that choose to mount amplifiers and loudspeakers on the roof-tops and windows of the church buildings must be banned too. The noise they generate must be checked henceforth. They should not be allowed to continue to disturb members of the public through the noise their loud speakers and amplifiers generate.
Many people have been suffering in the hands of these religious organisations in the area of noise nuisance. Recently, a professor of medicine at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital had complained bitterly that each time he returned to his village in Arochukwu, he would face noise nuisance from a nearby church that always mounted horn-speakers and amplifiers on top and at the windows of the church and start blaring excessive sound that would not allow him to concentrate each time he came back to his village.
Those overzealous security officials and arrogant politicians who prefer to abuse sirens during convoys must be checked too. They should not continue to create and generate noise nuisance that disturbs the people when they escort their ‘ogas’ to places. These groups of people have continued to disturb the peace and tranquilly of the people of Nigeria regularly.
Really, in the area of noise nuisance control, the federal and state governments of Nigeria have actually failed Nigerians, and the earlier they realise this ‘mistake’ and decide to reverse the trend, the better for the health interest of Nigerians.
