Nigeria Environment

 

 

Introduction

Development will be meaningful if it does not increase a country's vulnerability to environmental impacts. If a nation's environmental foundations are depleted, its economy may well decline, its social fabric may deteriorate, and its political structure may even become destabilized. The environment is, however, a complex and interactive system consisting of the atmosphere, land surface and bodies of water, as well as living things. The degradation of an element of the environmental system will have positive or negative feedback effects on the others. For example, human induced increased injection of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere has resulted in global warming with its consequent large variability in climate in the form of extreme weather events that are generating floods (e.g. the 2012 major flood disasters witnessed in more than half of the States of Nigeria) and massive erosion of land. Thus, the environment must be managed in a coherent and integrated manner through the implementation of a well formulated policy framework.

Nigeria formulated its first national policy on the environment in 1991. It was revised in 1999, and seventeen years down the lane, it is due for another revision in order to capture emerging environmental issues and concerns. Thus, the purpose of this National Policy on the Environment is to define a new holistic framework to guide the management of the environment and natural resources of the country. As a framework document, it prescribes sectoral and cross-sectoral strategic policy statements and actions for the management of the country’s environment for sustainable development.

In addition to the existing 1991 and 1999 draft policy documents, this Policy derives its strength from the fundamental obligation for the protection of the environment as stated in section 20 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 which provides that the “State shall protect and improve the environment and safeguard the water, air and land, forest and wild life of Nigeria”. In addition, Nigeria is party to several international treaties and conventions governing environmental issues. It is on the combined thrust of these instruments that the National Policy on the Environment rests

Nigeria Environment

Where we are and why

The Nigeria environment is plagued by myriads of problems.The under-listed is the easily identified problems:

1. Drought and desertification

2. Wind,sheet and gully erosion

3. Costal and marine erosion

4. Land subsidence

5. Flood

6. Uncontrollable logging and tree falling

7. Inappropriate agricultural practices

8. Uncontrolled use of Afro-chemical and fertilizer

9. Loss of aesthetic values

10. Damage to marine and wildlife

11. Frequent gas flaring

12. Oil spoilage

13. Decrease in fishery resources

14. Mining wasteland

15. Urban decay and squatter settlements

16. Stack fumes and unregulated and grossly excessive automotive and related exhausts

17. Incidence of invasive species such as water hyacinth and quell birds

18. Frequent climatic changes and

19. Ozone layer depletion  

Environmental Policy and its Enforcement in Nigeria

What is the basis of environmental policy in Nigeria and which agencies/bodies administer and enforce environmental law?

The basis of environmental policy in Nigeria is contained in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal

Republic of Nigeria. Pursuant to section 20 of the Constitution, the State is empowered to protect and improve the environment and safeguard the water, air and land, forest and wildlife of Nigeria. In

addition to this, section 2 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act of 1992 (EIA Act) provides that the public or private sector of the economy shall not undertake or embark on or authorise projects or activities without prior consideration of the effect on the environment.

In this regard, the Federal Government of Nigeria has promulgated various laws and Regulations to safeguard the Nigerian environment. These include:

• Federal Environmental Protection Agency Act of 1988 (FEPA Act) repealed by the National

Environmental Standards Regulation Agency (NESREA) Act 2007. The following Regulations were made pursuant to the FEPA Act:

 National Environmental Protection (Effluent Limitation) Regulations:

 National Environmental Protection (Pollution Abatement in Industries and

Facilities Generating Wastes) Regulations; and

 National Environmental Protection (Management of Solid and Hazardous

Wastes) Regulations.

• Environmental Impact Assessment Act of 1992 (EIA Act).

• Harmful Wastes (Special Criminal Provisions etc.) Act of 1988 (Harmful Wastes Act).

The National Environmental Standards Regulation Agency, (NESREA) (the agency) has the

responsibility for the protection an development of the environment, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development of Nigeria’s natural resources, environmental technology, including coordination and liaison with relevant stake holders within and outside Nigeria on matters of enforcement of environmental standards, regulations, rules, laws, policies and guidelines. Other regulatory agencies with oversight functions and responsibility over specific industries have also issued guidelines to regulate the impact of such industries on the environment such as the Environmental

Guidelines and Standards for the Petroleum Industry in Nigeria (EGASPIN) 2002, published by the

Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

The NESREA Act allows each State and Local Government in the country to set up its own agency for the protection and improvement of the environment within the State. Each State is also empowered to make laws to protect the environment within its jurisdiction. All the States have environmental agencies and State laws; e.g. Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Abuja.

The Federal Capital Territory has issued the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (Solid Waste

Control/Environmental Monitoring) Regulations 2005 also referred to as "the Abuja Environmental

Protection Board Regulations" which principally governs solid waste control in Abuja. In Lagos

 

Situation Analysis

The environment is the life supporting system for human existence and survival and provides much of the physical milieu and the raw materials required for socio-economic progress. Humanity has no choice but to interact with it. Unfortunately, human interaction, natural disaster and climate change are putting unprecedented pressure and impact on the quality of our environmental conditions. Climate change, in particular, is currently one of the most critical issues facing mankind today. It strikes at the very heart of the sustainability of our life, and is compounding human efforts to attain sustainable development. Nigeria is strongly predisposed to severe negative impacts of climate change due to the nature of its economy, weak resilience and low adaptive capacity. Much of the economy is dependent on climate- sensitive resources. For example, the agriculture sector (crop production, livestock and fishery) and forestry which employ up to 70% of the workforce and contributes about 22% of the rebased GDP is very climate sensitive.

If the environment is properly managed, it can be a productive resource to meet our socio-economic and aesthetic needs, not only for today, but also for the future generations. Conversely, if poorly managed, the environment could easily become hazardous and threatening to the country’s survival. Where human interaction with the environment results in degradation, it can be a significant source of economic loss and stress upon human societies. By the 1990s, a World Bank report estimated that Nigeria was losing about US$5.1 billion per annum to environmental degradation, in the face of poor mitigation measures and initiatives.

Nigeria's environment is under increasing threat from human activities and natural disasters. There are already certain ominous problems with the environment and visible scars associated with the destruction of the natural resource base (land, water and air) upon which all life depends are being noted. The country's large population of about 170 million and its rapid growth rate of 2.8 per cent are contributing to its environmental degradation.

The key environmental issues facing Nigeria include land degradation, deforestation, and land, water and air pollution among others. Land is by far the most important resource necessary for subsistence. Simply, put land is

 that part of the earth's surface that is not covered by water, To this has to be added

 wet lands which are seasonally or permanently under water. Much of this land is rural, carrying farmlands and vegetation of various types as well as water reservoirs. This portion of the country’s land area is the stock from which urban uses are aggressively incurring into to meet growing unbridled non- land use demands. Earth mining for urban development is a major component of this “eating” up the rural land that has evidently been ignored over the years. Left uncontrolled as it is today, future access to rural land for agriculture will be precarious. Effort must therefore be made now to enforce land demarcation for rural especially at the LGA levels. Such land declared as rural would not be allowed to be converted to urban uses of any form. There must also be a watch on idle urban land to control

 Wastages associated with land speculation.

 Even the land now under rural use is severely threatened. Much of Nigeria's arable land is being sapped insidiously of its productive potential through overuse, inappropriate technologies and urbanization. Rapid deforestation, resulting from multiple uses of forest resources for human survival (e.g. fuel wood and energy, housing etc.) is a major contributing factor to land degradation. The end result of deforestation and other agricultural activities, including intensive grazing, and over-cultivation, is severe land degradation.

Fossil fuel use, particularly oil and gas exploration, has aggravated the problem of ecological damage in the Niger Delta. Similarly, indiscriminate and illegal mining for tin and columbite on the Jos Plateau and other mineral resources in many parts of Nigeria have left many areas of the country severely degraded.

There is also a growing concern about air and water pollution, associated with continued urbanization and industrialization in the country. Pollution from oil exploration activities and gas flaring in the Niger Delta remains a source of concern to the government. Oil spills from leaking underground pipelines and storage tanks are a regular occurrence, rendering vast tracts of land and water bodies unproductive in the region. National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) recorded in first half of the year 2007 a total of 424 spill incidents involving 33,799 barrels of oil. In addition, pollution from gas flaring goes on daily because the flare-free deadline set by government has been postponed many times. The resultant heat stress and acid rain continue to degrade the ecosystem. Nigerians in general are increasingly being exposed to the hazards of highly polluted gaseous and dust emissions from industries and vehicles and dangerous industrial wastes that are constantly being discharged into the environment.

Although there have been many national efforts to tackle the problems, Nigeria continues to rank very low in terms of its environmental performance rating. In 2016, the country's Environmental Performance Index (EPI)1 was 58.27, ranking it as number 133 out of 190 countries surveyed in the world. The low EPI figure puts the country behind many other African countries like Egypt (66.45), South Africa (70.52), Namibia (70.84) and Kenya (62.49). A value of 58.27 indicates that while Nigeria has shown some improvement in the last two years from a low value of 39.20 in 2014, the country still has limited capacity to handle environmental problems and it has not been able to significantly reduce its high rate of air, land and water pollution. When compared with other oil producing countries like Norway (86.90), Canada (86.06), Saudi Arabia (68.63) and Venezuela (76.23), Nigeria has a lot to do to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) that are related to the conservation and sustainable use of its natural resources for meaningful socio-economic development. The situation is being compounded by climate change. The country is strongly predisposed to severe negative impacts of climate change due to its weak resilience and low adaptive capacity.

Addressing these issues and considering the fact that understanding the trade-offs between present and future consumption of resources have to be carefully analyzed, provide the justification for this policy. It also gives the framework to guide the country’s efforts to deal with the ever-growing environmental challenges, such as:

i. Sustainable management of natural resources: Environment-unfriendly practices such as large- scale deforestation and land clearing, inappropriate and illegal mining, excessive irrigation water supply, inappropriate use of agrochemicals and inorganic fertilizers, uncontrolled and poor livestock farming practices, gas flaring, have resulted in alteration in vegetation cover, soil degradation, as well as distortion in drainage system, loss of biodiversity, overgrazing and

1 The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranks countries’ performance on high-priority environmental issues in two areas protection of human health and protection of ecosystems.

 

disruption of the ecological systems, pollution, increased incidence of disease vectors and the like in many parts of Nigeria.

ii. Environmentally sound technology: The exploitation of natural resources, consumption of energy, production processes and generation of environmental pollution, wastes and degradation depend on the types of technology adopted. The major challenge for the country is to adopt and use environmentally sound technologies (ESTs), whether exogenously or endogenously developed because they will contribute significantly to productivity and the sustainability of resources through renewable-energy generation, pollution control, and waste reduction.

iii. Climate change and disaster management: The effects of the change are already manifesting in increasing extreme climatic events particularly storms, flooding and rising temperatures as well as altered climatic and weather regimes. These are creating many other effects such as declining productivity of rain-fed agriculture and relocation of populations with all its consequences. In the long run all the sectors of the economy could be severely impacted with huge losses including life. This would slow down the pace of development in the country as many economic activities are climate sensitive. There could be shift in the boundaries of ecological belts. The challenge is the promotion of climate compatible development for disaster risk reduction and sustainable development

iv. Land degradation and desertification: Severe land degradation continues to ravage the country, resulting in drastic reduction in the productivity of land resources. Reducing the rate and severity of desertification and reversing land degradation is a key challenge for environmental sustainability and sustainable development of the country.

v. Waste management: Poor waste management that is prevalent in Nigeria is inimical to the sustenance of the environment as well as the overall economic development of the country. Controlling indiscriminate dumping of household and industrial wastes on land, water and air remains a major environmental challenge.

vi. Pollution: Pollution continues to be a major environmental challenge in the country, with significant impact on the well-being of the country’s environment and the people.

vii. Environmental hazards and disasters: Despite their devastating impacts on many sectors of the economy and the livelihoods of the people, the management of environmental hazards and disasters remain a major challenge, due generally to inadequate capacity for their effective prediction, mitigation and management.

viii. Urban decay: Nigeria ranks among the most urbanized countries in the world with the rate about 56% in 2015. The pace of urbanization increase has been such that maintenance of modest environmental standards had inevitably lagged behind. The functionality of most urban areas is thus reduced in addition to exerting adverse impacts on households, macro-economic performance and social well-being. This situation poses a major challenge to economic growth and development.

Integrated coastal management: Nigeria’s coastal region suffers degradation from diverse of human activities, particularly oil exploration and exploitation, agricultural and industrial development. Attempts to address critical environmental problems have been mainly piece meal. The main challenge for the sustainable management of the coastal and marine environment is to put in place an integrated approach that will address the issues.

x. Weak environmental governance: Weak and fragmented environmental governance remains a major bane of environmental sustainability in the country. Many of the institutions dealing with environmental issues have weak capacity and adopt sectoral, rather than integrated, approaches. They are generally under-funded and ineffective in their core functions to have meaningful impact on environmental sustainability. Weak enforcement of laws and weak implementation of policies remains a major issue of concern in Nigeria’s environment sector.

xi. Inadequate environmental education and awareness: National efforts to address environmental issues have not been broad-based. But, broad public participation in decision making processes is one of the fundamental preconditions for sustainable development. This will enable many Nigerians to be aware of their role in environmental management and also enhance their access to timely and accurate information on the environment. Sound environmental management has to be based on openness and inclusiveness at all levels. Therefore, it is imperative that environmental education and public awareness is promoted to ensure broad-based environmental management, involving the many and varied stakeholders.

xii. Dichotomy between environment and growth, and environment and poverty alleviation: Environmental issues and concerns are lowly rated in national priorities. The fact, therefore, is that over time environmental degradation and intractable poverty have become more complex. Alleviating poverty and protecting the environment for sustainable development is not only necessary but also imperative. For sustainability, there is the need to maintain balance between (i) maintaining a constant natural capital stock and environmental “sink” capacity and (ii) improving the quality of life through poverty alleviation.

xiii. Limited private sector participation in environmental management: A prosperous economy depends on a well-defined and functional market. But for environmental resources, the market forces are not functioning well and this is one of the reasons for environmental degradation. The private sector as a major player in the market forces must therefore be adequately involved in environmental management. Improving the level of private sector participation in environmental management to take economic responsibilities for damages done to the environment is critical. This would mean establishing a framework for proper environmental valuation of the activities of the private sector. The cost of environmental mitigation needs to be incorporated into the capital outlay as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of every private establishment.

xiv. Conservation of shared natural resources: Conflicts over control and management of shared resources are very common in many parts of Nigeria. For example, the Lake Chad region experiences perennial conflicts concerning access to its water and fisheries resources. This calls for a framework for a harmonized and common approach to the conservation and management such shared resources.