The role of the NESREA Act 2007 in protecting the One Earth

PROTECTING THE ONE EARTH: THE ROLE OF NESREA ACT 2007.

1.0 INTRODUCTION ?

The protection of the earth has become a thing of growing concern with the ever-increasing manifestation of centuries-long negative impacts of human activities on the environment. Laws and resourceful techniques are being employed to halt, manage, and reverse the impacts. In doing so, the NESREA Act 2007, the current and most important environmental regime in Nigeria, was enacted to regulate human activities that impact the Nigerian environment and the earth at large.

This essay begins with a brief overview of the development of environmental regimes in Nigeria. It then discusses the role of the NESREA Act 2007 in protecting the nation’s environment, focusing on the mandate and enforcement powers of NESREA.

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2.0 BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGIMES IN NIGERIA

Like many countries dedicated to caring for the earth, Nigeria has taken steps to regulate activities that impact the earth on a global scale. Given that effective protection of the earth is achieved through resourceful environmental laws and thorough enforcement of such laws, Nigeria has enacted numerous environmental laws and regulations, deriving its powers to do so from the constitution which empowers the State to protect, improve and safeguard its environment, water, air, land, forest, and wildlife.[1] However, this has not always been the case.

During the colonial era, the protection of the environment was not a priority in Nigeria and there was, accordingly, no policy aimed at protecting it.[2] Matters relating to the environment were dealt with as tort of nuisance because disputes in environmental law were not viewed as public matters warranting State intervention.[3] At the time, what seemed like a concerted effort at protecting the environment was the enactment of the Criminal Code Act[4] of 1916 and the Public Health Act[5] of 1917. Although somewhat broad in scope, the Public Health Act contained provisions relevant to the regulation of land, air, and water pollution.[6] The Criminal Code Act, on the other hand, prohibited water and air pollution and created the offense of nuisance.[7] But these laws were enacted merely out of sanitation concerns.

Following the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in 1956 and the transition to an oil economy, a good number of petroleum-based environmental laws were enacted. The laws focused on the many facets of petroleum exploration activities and aimed at reducing the pollution that resulted from them.[8] They criminalized pollution caused by petroleum activities but did not cut across many sectors involving human activities that equally had the potential of causing environmental degradation. Nevertheless, the decades that followed recorded some progress. The 1970s saw the further development of Nigeria’s environmental regime in response to the industrial growth brought about by the oil boom.[9] But these laws were merely responses to emergencies.

Something of a breakthrough came when Nigeria subscribed to several international treaties and attended environment-focused conferences organized by the United Nations. This led to more enactments and, eventually, the establishment of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) in 1988 which was regulated by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency Act.[10] Being the first time that Nigeria established a national institutional framework for environmental protection, it was a milestone achievement for her efforts at environmental management. The regime of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency Act inured up until 1999 when the government decided to merge the agency with other relevant departments from other ministries to form a single Federal Ministry of Environment. However, the new Ministry of Environment lacked the necessary laws to enable enforcement.[11] This created a vacuum in the effective oversight of environmental laws, standards, and regulations in the country.[12] To address this gap, the Federal Government established the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency as a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Environment.[13] Consequently, the FEPA Act was repealed and replaced by the NESREA Act,[14] which is the most recent environmental regime in Nigeria.

3.0?THE ROLE OF NESREA ACT 2007 IN PROTECTING THE ONE EARTH.

In addition to establishing the National Environmental Standard and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), the NESREA Act is the highest reference authority on environmental matters. As such, it plays a pivotal role in Nigeria and the world at large considering that the impacts of environmental degradation, like climate change, are of global concern. As an apparatus for protecting the Nigerian environment and, by extension, the one earth, the NESREA Act plays the following roles:

1)????Establishing NESREA and legitimizing its powers: the most significant role of the Act is establishing NESREA,[15] which is the major federal body responsible for protecting Nigeria’s environment by enforcing all environmental laws, regulations, guidelines, and standards.[16] By the same Act, the Agency is broadly empowered to, inter alia—

a.?????Conduct field follow-up compliance with set standards and take procedures prescribed by law against any violator;[17]

b.????Prohibit processes and use of equipment or technology that undermine the environmental quality[18]

c.?????Subject to the provisions of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution and in collaboration with relevant judicial authorities, establish mobile courts to expeditiously dispense cases of violation of environmental regulations;[19]

The Act grants the Agency the legal backing to exercise these powers together with other powers which, though not enumerated above, are outlined in section 8 of the Act. The nation's environment is protected through the efficient exercise of these powers.

2)????Instrument ensuring environmental awareness and compliance with environmental laws in Nigeria: in addition to the powers highlighted above, the Act empowers NESREA to come up with modalities for ensuring environmental awareness[20] and compliance with environmental laws in Nigeria.[21] This is achieved through the enforcement techniques championed by NESREA and her sister agencies.[22] ?Some of the techniques include effective enforcement mechanism, public participation in environmental protection and management, environmental education, cooperation and partnership with other inter-governmental agencies, non-governmental agencies, and relevant agencies that are directly or indirectly involved in activities related to the protection of the Nigerian environment and the global community at large.[23]

a.????Effective enforcement mechanism: the NESREA Act provides for enforcement mechanisms like issuance of permits by courts, certificates for environmental compliance, inspections,[24] searches,[25] seizures,[26] arrests, obtaining a court order to suspend activities, and seal and close down premises and any structure whatsoever,[27] notice of violation, a notice of revocation of a permit, criminal sanctions for violations et cetera.[28]

b.????Public participation and environmental education: one of the functions of the agency highlighted in the Act is to create public awareness and provide environmental education on sustainable environmental management. To this end, NESREA involves the Nigerian citizenry in the protection and management of the environment through compliance monitoring and enforcement which is achieved through various means like informational meetings, public forums, citizen monitoring, and voluntary environmental marshals or corps.[29] A good example of voluntary environmental corps is the Green Corps Initiative which comprises citizens who have volunteered to support the work of government environmental officers in seeing that the laws championing the protection of the environment are enforced and complied with.

c.?????Cooperation and partnership with other agencies: the Act empowers NESREA to collaborate with other agencies and establish programs for setting standards and regulations for the protection of the nation’s environment.[30] Similarly, the Act allows the agency to cooperate with other agencies for the removal of any pollutant excluding oil and gas-related ones discharged into the environment.[31] In keeping with these, the Agency in collaboration with the State has established zonal offices in all six geopolitical zones in the country[32] and has created a forum for many environmental agencies at the State and Federal levels to work together for the implementation of the various regulations of the agency. As recently as June 2021, the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) and the NESREA expressed their desire to collaborate to regulate electronic waste in the country.

Further, through NESREA, Nigeria is cooperating with international communities like the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Issues (INECE) for a timely exchange of information and experience on environmental compliance and enforcement issues, [33] and positive outcomes have resulted from such cooperation.

3)????Spelling out the mandate/functions of NESREA (Section 7): the well-spelled-out mandate/functions of NESREA are just as important as its establishment because they give means to the agency without which the establishment would be an exercise in futility. The functions of the Agency are numerous and revolve mostly around enforcing compliance with diverse policies, standards, guidelines, and regulations, and include environmental treaties that have been ratified and domesticated in Nigeria. Amongst other functions, the Agency also has the functions of coordinating with stakeholders, within or outside Nigeria, on matters of environmental standards, regulations, and guidelines,[34] creating public awareness and providing environmental education on sustainable environmental management,[35] and carrying out activities that are necessary and expedient for the performance of its functions.[36]

4)????Legitimizing the regulations made under the Act: by section 34 of the Act,[37] the Minister charged with the responsibility of the environment is empowered to make regulations on certain issues including to carry out or give full effects to the functions of the Agency under the Act. The agency is also empowered to make regulations concerning issues like noise,[38] effluent limitations,[39] the protection of public health, and promotion of sound environmental sanitation[40] et cetera. Subsequently, a whopping thirty-three environmental regulations have been made. Some of them are—

§?National environmental (mining and processing of coal, ores, and industrial minerals) regulations.[41]

§?National environmental (sanitation and waste control) regulations.[42]

§?National environmental (permitting and licensing system) regulations.[43]

The Act provides the legal backing for these regulations which in turn widen the ambit of NESREA’s powers and bring about the easy execution of its mandate, making it somewhat easier to protect the environment.

4.0 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the NESREA Act, 2007 is a well-thought-out law that has laid down astute rules and procedures for ensuring that Nigeria joins other competent jurisdictions in protecting the earth while preventing and tackling the immediate and long-term impacts of human activities on its environment. ?The right apparatus has been put in place but, just like many other laws, what is required in Nigeria is dedicated and unbiased enforcement by the relevant Agency.

[1] Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) Cap C25 LFN 1999, s 20.

[2] Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan, ‘Review of NESREA Act 2007 and Regulations 2009-2011: A New Dawn in Environmental Compliance and Enforcement in Nigeria,’ 8/1 Law, Environment and Development Journal (2012), p. 118, https://www.lead-journal.org./content/12116.pdf accessed 4th August 2022.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Cap C.38 LFN 2004.

[5] Cap P.40 LFN 2004.

[6] Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan art cit,118.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Olusegun A. Ogunba, ‘Environmental Impact Assessment Review’ 643, 647 (2004) EIA Systems in Nigeria: Evolution, Current Practice, and Shortcomings 24.

[9] Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan art cit,118.

[10] Cap F10 LFN 2004.

[11] Kingsley Ejike Anih, ‘The role of NESREA Act 2007 in ensuring environmental awareness and compliance in Nigeria, [2017] (10)(9) IOSR Journal of applied chemistry 3

[12] Ibid.

[13] Ibid.

[14] No. 25 July 30, 2007.

[15] National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency Act (NESREA ACT) No.5 2007, s 1(1).

[16] Amaechi Providence ’25 Environmental Laws in Nigeria’ EnvironmentGo (Lagos October 16, 2021) <https:// environmentgo.com/environmental-laws-in-nigeria/> accessed 6th August 2022.

[17] NESREA Act, s 8(e).

[18] Ibid, s 8(d.

[19] Ibid, s 8(f).

[20] NESREA Act, s 7(l).

[21] Ibid, s 7(a).

[22] Kingsley Ejike Anih art cit, 4.

[23] Ibid.

[24] NESREA Act, s 30(a).

[25] Ibid.

[26] Ibid, s 30(f).

[27] Ibid, s 30(g).

[28] Kingsley Ejike Anih art cit,4.

[29] Benebo, Ngeri (2014); Using Enforcement Cooperation to Promote Environmental Governance:?The Case of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency of Nigeria; paper presented by the Director General/Chief Executive Officer, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, Nigeria, [email protected].?At the ninth International Conference on Environmental Compliance and Enforcement, 2011.

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[30] NESREA Act, s 8(o).

[31] NESREA Act, s 29.

[32] Kingsley Ejike Anih art cit,5.

[33] Ibid.

[34] NESREA Act, s 7(b).

[35] Ibid, s 7(l).

[36] Ibid, s 7(m).

[37] NESREA Act No.25, 2007.

[38] NESREA Act, s 22(1)(b).

[39] Ibid, s 24(3).

[40] Ibid, s 25(1).

[41] S.I. No. 31, 2009.

[42] S.I. No. 28, 2009.

[43] S.I. No. 29, 2009.