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ABSTRACT
The first COVID-19 case in Nigeria was confirmed on the 27th of February 2020. This prompted the imposition of a lockdown in Edo State and Delta State on April 19, 2020 and April 1, 2020. The main goal of this work is to monitor the trends in ozone concentrations before, during and after the COVID-19 lockdown using geographic information system and remotely sensed atmospheric pollution data. The timeframe of data collected was January 2019 to June 2023. Before COVID-19 (2019), the mean ozone concentration for Edo State was 0.120190407 mol/m2 and 0.120651982 mol/m2 while that of Delta State was 0.120673823 mol/m2 and 0.120680138 mol/m2 from January to June and July to December respectively. The first quarter of 2020, during the lockdown showed a slight drop in ozone concentration with a mean concentration of 0.1196566008 mol/m2 and and 0.118336541 mol/m2 for Edo and Delta States respectively. This reduction is linked to reduced human activities and industrial process during this period. After COVID-19 restrictions were partially and fully removed an increase or in some cases no change in concentration levels was observed. The most probable cause of this is an increase in human, vehicular and industrial activities. This highlights the relationship between non-methane hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide ratios (NMHC/NOx) and air masses movement in the formation of ozone. Based on the results above it is recommended that air quality monitoring agencies and institutions such as NIMET and the federal and state ministries of environment which are the enforcement and regulatory agencies, reevaluate current regulations on air quality monitoring and develop more robust monitoring mechanisms. This will assist in understanding the most effective and efficient measures to improve air quality. The general notion that air quality improved during the lockdown should be analyzed in order to include all pollutants that have serious impact on human health and the environment.
