ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION THE NEED FOR AWARENESS CREATION IN ONITSHA, ANAMBRA STATE

Introduction
The accumulation of waste can rightly be said to be a four-runner of present day environmental problems. The revolution was followed by the industrial revolution which was as a result of man’s quest to master his environment. The causes of this environmental problem have been identified as population growth and industrialization, overloading our environment with pollutants like noxious substances of our daily household, industrial and agricultural waste (Chukwuneke,2005) If refuse is not properly disposed, it could lead to an out- break of diseases which could be very hazardous to human health [Morten, 2007]. For instance, sewage being one of the major pollutants of the land and river could cause disease to man and also disturb aquatic ecosystem by killing the aquatic organisms such as fishes. Poor disposal of human excreta and urine creates an atmosphere for the development of pathogenic organisms that cause disease. Human excreta produces offensive smell and attracts flies which can easily transmit disease to people. Science Teachers Association of Nigeria [STAN, 2004] observed that when substances are introduced into air and water which makes them harmful to be used, they are said to be polluted, noting that such harmful substances are called pollutants. Pollution is an act or process which leads to the defilement or uncleanliness of the conditions under which are lives (Akpuaka, 2005). There are various types of pollution. These include, pollution of water, air, land, radioactive, vibration, noise and thermal pollution.

Education is being a veritable tool for social transformation and development. It is a dynamic instrument of change, which can be used to bring about redness, correct imbalance in development and make for the quick development of economic, political, sociological and human resources [FRN, 2004]. However, changes occur as a result of the cumulative effect of well-developed curriculum, [Amokaye, 2012]. The illiterate Nigerians may not change unless they become informed through appropriate curriculum and educational communication of alternative modes of thinking and behaviors.

The need to educate the Nigerian society on the value and importance of Sustainable environment informed the development of pollution education curricular for primary and post primary education. Miller [2006] stated that the 1996 national curriculum review conference which appraised the curriculum of the Nations Educational system in Kaduna was unanimous in noting the absence or deficiency of environmental education element in the various school syllabuses. In Anambra state, the story is not different. Therefore, there is need for the government to see how to create environmental awareness and protection through the instrumentality of education.
It has been observed in recent times that the role the environment play to a nation’s development process cannot be relegated to the background. Apart from being the physical surrounding for natural habitats, the environment provides the basis for human exploits for agricultural, industrial, commercial, technological and tourism development of a society. For this and several other reasons, environmental issues now occupy a centre stage in academic discourse and other public both at the national and international levels. Recorded evidence has also shown that the environment represents a wide range of the external circumstances, conditions and the things that affect the existence and development of an individual, organism, group and/or society (Uwaka 2008).

In Nigeria for instance, environmental issues did not gain official prominence until the 1988 Koko toxic waste dumping saga which also brought to the fore the exigent need to establish the Nigeria Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA), Federal Ministry of Environment and other relevant agencies, ostensibly to tackle environmentally related issues, in the country. These include issues such as environmental pollution, sanitation, depletion of ozone layer, desertification, flooding, erosion, poverty, bush burning, deforestation, soil conservation etc. All these mentioned above are a pointer to the fact that issues of environment and infact environmental pollution which forms the basis of this paper has taken a centre stage in the nation’s (Nigeria’s) development process.

Environmentally minded scholars: Ocheri (2003), Gbehe (2004), and Aja (2005) have associated environmental pollution with human activities and albeit persistent human interaction with the environment. Research has also shown that as the population of a country grows/increases with attendant pressure on the environment especially in the wake of improved technologies, environmental abuse and pollution is nevertheless heightened with corresponding effects on lives of people and other living organisms, (Ocheri, 2003). It has been observed further that man through industrial, agricultural and the ever increasing urbanization process, security and terrorist activities tend to directly and/or indirectly pollute the environment. (Milller 2006) in his observations, in tandem with the foregoing agree that unrestricted use of pesticides, insecticides, herbicides and indiscriminate dumping of refuse, excreta and animal dung as well as spillages from refineries, large scale bush burning etc. are perceived as some of the leading factors of environmental pollution in Nigeria. Structurally therefore, the paper is divided into sections. Following this section (introduction) is section 2, and it dwells on conceptual clarification of environmental pollution. Section 3 discusses the theoretical framework, section 4 is environmental pollution in Nigeria and its attendant consequences on human’s life, organisms and the country Nigeria, and section 5 is the need for awareness creation for sustainable development.