Status of Monitoring, Remediation and Regulation of Chemical Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Nigeria

Abstract

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) can be divided into chemical contaminants of emerging (CCECs) and microbial contaminants of emerging concern (MCECs). This review was to ascertain the current status of monitoring, remediation and regulation of chemical contaminants of emerging concern (CCECs) in Nigeria. Various publications were accessed through academic databases and search engines including DOAJ, AJOL, SpringerLink, ScienceDirect, Semanticsscholar, Google Scholar, Scopus and Research Gate to obtain literature relevant to the study. A total of 1476 works published between January 2017 and December 2023 were accessed and critically reviewed but only 173 publications were found suitable for use in assessing the subject matter. Seventeen national environmental policies, laws and regulations were also accessed from the websites of the national environmental regulatory agencies and higher education libraries. These were also assessed for information relevant to this study. The vast majority of the publications (163 out of 173) were in the area of CCECs monitoring while a paltry 10 publications (across 7 years) dealt with remediation of polluted matrices. 130 publications were research papers and most of them were studies on CCECs in solid matrices and water/wastewater samples. There is very low research effort on the remediation of CCECs in the Nigerian environment and policymakers seem to have little or no appreciation of CCECs and their potential impacts on the environment. Recommendations were made on future research efforts and how to create awareness and incorporate CCECs’ monitoring and remediation into Nigeria’s environmental laws.