FG too overbearing on issues of environment – NES

What are the current environmental issues affecting Nigeria presently?The environment in Nigeria today is under serious stress, it is being battered from all angles and NES, the foremost environmental group in Nigeria today, has as one of its aims to proffer solutions and to enhance environmental awareness, both in theory and in practice. So that […]

What are the current environmental issues affecting Nigeria presently?
The environment in Nigeria today is under serious stress, it is being battered from all angles and NES, the foremost environmental group in Nigeria today, has as one of its aims to proffer solutions and to enhance environmental awareness, both in theory and in practice. So that places NES in a vantage position, more so because the association has 26 chapters across the country. The environmental problems range from the ecological, industrial or natural, in other words, the environmental problems we have is caused by individual, groups and industrial activities. Attitude also impinges on the well being of people environmentally. If you go up north, the typical problem is desert encroachment and the impact of agriculture goes with that, at the rate the desert is pushing down, it is creating a lot of havoc on agriculture, including livestock. And also the rate at which human beings are exploiting marginal lands in the north is creating problems to the rate that the Sahel is being depleted at a faster rate. If you move towards the north-central you have serious threat on the land as a result of unsustainable exploitation of soil minerals. Nigeria is rich with solid minerals but the rate at which we are exploiting those leaves us with a lot of environmental hazards. Not too long ago, we had a problem in Zamfara which had to do with the way they were harvesting lead which is a poisonous metal, so you have environmental problems dove tailing into health issues. Then if you go down south, you have coastal erosion, sea encroachment, and vegetation goes with these. And in those areas where we have black gold i.e., oil, the impact is disastrous. In the eastern flank you have gully erosion that is separating communities and affecting the quality of life. And because of lack of planning, our cities decay is setting in and we have waste management problem which cuts across all our cities. Our consumption and production habits are horrible so it is a crisis situation. We are not managing waste in Nigeria; we are only transporting waste from point A to B in the name of disposal.

Then what is NES doing to address these problems?
Like I said, we have 26 branches and regularly we have education awareness programmes which we take to primary, secondary schools, even tertiary schools. We have environmental societies and clubs, and we partner with some states, we organise workshops, seminars aimed at improving on our knowledge, and also carry our programmes to markets, motor parks and areas with high concentration of people. When we have episodes, we visit places like the flood of 2012, we visited affected communities to educate them on how to reduce the impact of hazards, we do advocacy, and also in Bayelsa, in 2012, we visited the people where water became a problem. And also in Ogoni, six years before, UNEP came in and we were there with advocacy and fact finding to highlight the problems there.

What yardstick does the society use to measure the impact of its activities in these areas?
All the branches I mentioned earlier submit reports to the national body of NES and we relate with other organisations to have a feel of our performance. And don’t forget, we are down at the grassroots and have periodic environmental campaign where we have contact with the people. There is high level of awareness among people when it comes to environmental issues, anyway. In some areas when you go there, you have to interact with the youths or their leaders there.

But do you agree that there are overlapping functions from agencies like NESREA, NOSDRA etc?
Yes, there are overlapping functions in ministries, departments and agencies resulting in conflict in mandate where you have two, three agencies discharging a similar function and that is a problem. But we don’t have problem with NGOs who are our partners.

What is the solution?
We have to look at the constitution and fine tune areas in the concurrent and exclusive list and, secondly, the Federal Government is too overbearing when it comes to issues of environment, it should only concern itself with policy and regulation and enforcement, but are they well equipped in terms of capacity and infrastructure, no. The solution lies in devolution of power, weaken the centre so that other arms could be more functional or we could pool all of these into one body like an Environmental Protection Agency.  

As a member of the national conference, how do you intend to use the platform in tackling the environmental issues?
Like I said, the environment has been battled from the north to the south and any damage done to the environment affects health, education, agriculture, not to talk of political crisis. So we will use the confab to drum home the fact that we are facing a major ecological crisis and if we don’t look at how we manage it, we may not have the desired environment in the next few decades. The seasonal flooding we have, our attitude to surface water, we will use the medium to draw attention to these, including ground water. Because of population in Kaduna, River Rima is almost gone; we are going to suggest the way forward. The structure of government, is it favorable to the environment? No, so we will look at that too. Our position paper will be made available to all the delegates.

Do you think the conference will make any impact at the end?
We have seen that kind of scenario. Other conferences have held in the past, but have their outcomes been implemented?  In my opinion, what comes of the conference, if we do not implement it, we will not leave anything for future generation.