Ozone Layer Depletion? Nigeria’s Finally Switching on Smart Cooling Before It’s Too Late
By: Abudu Olalekan
Tuesday morning in Abuja carried a heaviness beyond humidity – more like tension, thick in the air. Officials sat packed together, uneasy, focused on an issue larger than the sputtering AC vibrating near the wall. Cooling vaccines or simply surviving work hours involves more than turning dials. This ties back to gaps overhead. The ozone layer, that concern fading into background noise since the 1990s? It remains critical. Deeply so.
Here it is – Nigeria’s leaders are done just talking. For real now. Old air conditioners and fridges that guzzle fuel? Getting replaced. Machines kind of like these hurt the sky. New ones won’t. Plus they cost less to run. A lot less.
A voice speaking for Minister Malam Balarabe Lawal, actually Idris Abdullahi of the National Ozonne Office, stood up during a recent city-center event lasting two full days. Forget vague slogans – green purchasing means selecting physical goods that avoid harming nature, start to finish. Think long-lasting cups instead of throwaway plastic ones. Again and again without exception.
“Look,” Lawal’s rep said, cutting through the jargon, “cooling isn’t a luxury anymore. Try running a hospital lab, a school, or keeping food from rotting without it. Impossible. But right now? Those clunky old systems are sucking up 40 to 60 percent of a building’s juice. And half the time? They’re using refrigerants that punch holes in the ozone and turbo-charge climate change. Total double whammy.”
True, he makes sense. Think back to that small fridge breaking down during summer heat. Suddenly your kitchen turned into a desert spot. Picture medical buildings packed with those units, along with grocery stores, server rooms – all pouring harmful gases into the shared sky. That situation is rough.
Who came up with the idea? A group called SRADev Nigeria – short for Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development – joining forces with the National Ozone Office. Their goal is clear: cut down harmful F-gases and substances damaging the ozone layer without delay. Truth be told, nations still growing often find themselves caught mid-step during changeovers. Cooling systems remain essential; however, relying on outdated methods only worsens heat-related harm.
Here comes the Kigili Amendment. Sounds fancy, right? Just a worldwide plan to drop HFCs – those quiet substitutes now seen as climate troublemakers. Nigeria joined in. Lawal described the Montreal Protocol – the old-school agreement that healed the ozone layer – as perhaps the best environmental win we’ve had. That checks out. Still, putting pen to paper doesn’t seal the deal. Action is what moves things forward.
“Policy changes? Crucial,” Lawal stressed. “But the real magic happens when government buying power gets green. When ministries stop just grabbing the cheapest bid and start asking ‘Hey, does this thing leak poison?’ That’s how you shift markets. That’s how you hit our climate promises.”
Tom Nickson, flying in from the UK’s Environmental Investigation Agency, dropped truth bombs. “The choices governments make now on cooling? They’ll echo for decades. Public procurement isn’t boring paperwork – it’s a superpower. Choose right, and you slash emissions, save energy bills, and show the whole market what’s possible. Get it wrong? Well… let’s not go there.”
Dr. Leslie Adogame from SRADev nodded hard. “We need boots on the ground – training, policy tweaks, weaving sustainable cooling into Nigeria’s actual climate plans. Not just speeches. Action.”
Even the African Development Bank’s climate guy, Gerald Njume, chimed in: “We’re backing this 100%. Nigeria’s got the potential, but it needs partners.” And Yusuf Kilani, the President’s climate advisor? Said the timing’s perfect. “Zero sustainability isn’t optional anymore. It’s the only game in town.”
What really matters comes down to this. Saving polar bears might sound nice – sure, that helps too – yet it is actually about people like you. Sitting where you are today. Listening to that noise from the cooling machine at work? Or thinking of the box keeping your food cold? When they pump out waste, you pay the price – both in money and air quality. Heat already presses down hard on Nigeria; tossing more fumes into the atmosphere just makes it worse.
The room emptied slowly, people pausing at the door with firm grips and tired grins – energy humming, though caffeine wasn’t the only source. Progress felt possible. Still, truth sits heavy: tearing up old systems takes time no slogan can speed. Setbacks will come. Money will snag. Familiar routines resist change like rusted bolts. Possibly another broken cooler before anything settles.
Yet somehow, watching leaders wrestle with small things – actually wipe brows, actually argue over wires – it hits harder. Not another far-off pledge whispered at a global summit. Right here. Right now. Solar panels on clinics. Fans in classrooms. Fridges in roadside stalls. Later today, when the fan kicks on above your head, one thought might flicker: My comfort didn’t cost the air its breath.
Perhaps – though it feels fragile – the shift is real now. Each machine, a breath of different air.
