Choking on your commute: How air pollution is strangling Lagos

Dysfunctional transport and lack of access to electricity are holding back development and endangering lives in Nigeria's biggest city

Naomi Ndukwu has to leave her apartment in Lagos two hours ahead of schedule every morning to beat the traffic gridlocks on the city's roads. In the evenings she is stuck for similar periods of time on her way back. She says the worst part is inhaling smoke from the fumes of a thousand cars on the return journey.

"I have asthmatic allergies so it becomes hard for me to breathe sometimes if the windows are down, and my eyes get watery," says Ndukwu, who works in a bank. "By the time I get home, I keep coughing and even exhale soot sometimes."