The poor power supply in Nigeria made the country a huge market for generators with public and private outfits as well as families owing at least two most times. The noise and fumes of these generators offer no encouragement to users but they hardly have a choice as power supply has been an individual responsibility in the country since the government cannot consistently provide same.
Recently, the Nigerian government banned the importation of low-cost generators locally known as "I better pass my neighbour" with its immense pollution/emission and deadly health implications.

Vanguard Newspaper quoted the Controller, Federation Operations Unit Zone A, Lagos State, of the Nigeria Customs Service, Madugu Sanni Jubrin, to have said that, ?the smaller generators have been banned by the Federal Government because it is causing air pollution and destruction of our lungs and breathing system.
?That is why they have banned it but people are still interested in smuggling them in, that is why we intercepted them. If you go to the market, you still see them because people have imported them before the ban. So it is the leftover they had before the ban that they are selling because the law did not backdate the ban and it is not an absolute prohibition. It is prohibition by trade which means you cannot bring it in large quantity and sell to the public. That is the type of prohibition we have on this but if you buy one piece, Customs will not seize it?.

The ban is a welcome one as these set of generators are quite wide-spread in Nigeria owing to their affordability and are often housed within living rooms of most houses which has ensured that its pollution affects Nigeria badly. According a report on Vanguard newspaper in 2014, "no fewer than 10,000 Nigerians died from poisonous 'generator? fumes, especially in the years between 2008 and 2014" and this shows quite clearly, the immense harm this has caused the country.
However, many are concerned about the economic impact of this policy on the average Nigerian especially ones running businesses who rely on such generators for power owing to its affordability and even dealers/importers of these generators who will probably be thrown out of business. But, we can only think of business when we first ensure our existence hence, the Nigerian government should be proud of this new policy but also work on improving on the marginal increase in power supply in the last few months to cushion the effect of this policy on the people.

Photocredit: Naij,com