The recommendation of the Committee on Environment at the ongoing National Conference for the removal of the Land Use Act from the 1999 Constitution and the establishment of a special court to deal with environmental issues almost marred the plenary as delegates along tribal lines either applauded the recommendations or condemned it.
For instance, retired Justice Abdullahi Mustapha said it was appalling to realise that every agency of government wants establishment of special courts to handle its issues, stressing that existing courts have the capability to handle such issues if reformed and properly situated.
Another recommendation that equally received mixed reactions was the suggestion for resource democracy which the committee described as the right by the people to own and manage their resources by prospecting for and developing such resources in their territories.
However, in spite of the knocks the resource control recommendation attracted from a section of the delegates, it was retained by the Committee of the Whole during consideration of recommendations, through a voice vote.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, had while presenting the report said every decision arrived
at was exhaustively researched and debated while experts in various areas of environment-related disciplines were invited for professional inputs and suggestions.
However, Ledum Mitee, a delegate from Rivers State, pointed out factual errors and inconclusive analysis in specific areas, while Edwin Clark, said there was nothing new about most of the recommendations of the committee; explaining that what was lacking was the political will on the part of the leaders to accept suggestions and have them implemented.
“We in the riverine areas live on top of water but we have no water to drink. We cannot farm. We cannot do fishing. The vegetation has changed,” adding that pipelines that were laid in 1956 have grown old but remain unchanged.
The committee had in its analysis pointed out that climate change has already led to serious desertification in
northern Nigeria, affecting at least 11 states with the serious implication of dislocation of populations and livelihoods.
It observed that southward migration of pastoralists in search of grazing grounds could well be one of the key
factors leading to conflicts with farmers in other areas.
It recommend dedicated actions to save Lake Chad from complete disappearance while forest reserves should be
established, protected and properly maintained by the both the federal and state governments.
The committee stated the need for government to encourage communities to imbibe the culture of tree planting,
strict regulation and enforcement of logging activities and creation and proper funding of a reforestation and a forestation agency to handle all anti-desertification projects.
Dr Isaac Osuoka in his comments, said the issue of desertification should be treated as an issue of national
emergency so that the situation could be arrested before it gets out of hand.
Describing gas flaring as the most intractable of the petroleum industry related pollution, the committee said its
stoppage has continued to remain elusive despite numerous attempts at regulation.
Ranked seventh in the world in terms of proven natural gas reserves, the committee reported that apart from Russia,
Nigeria flares more gas than any country of the world with 80 per cent of the associated gas produced from Nigeria’s oil fields being flared.
The environmental impacts of this, it said, include increase in concentration of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere; negative effect on vegetation, livestock and aquatic lives in the vicinity of the flares, among others.
The committee recommended amendment of the Gas Re-Injection Act of 1979 and remove the provision that empowers the
minister to authorise flaring of gas by oil companies; and that stiffer sanctions including fines equivalent to commercial price of natural gas should be imposed, while heads of offending agencies should be held responsible.
However, Mitee and Aishatu Isma’il faulted the recommendation in the sense that the committee failed to make gas
flaring a crime in spite of its huge negative impact on the environment and humans.
Conference in session agreed that penalty for gas flaring should be paid to the affected communities and not to
the Federal Government as has been the practice.
The committee also reported that to date, more than 5000 oil pipelines spill incidents have been reported in Nigeria with large areas of dry land, wetland and water bodies permanently impacted.
It cited a study carried out by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) stating that it would take a
life-time for abandoned oil sites in Ogoni land to be cleaned up, a citation that was faulted by Mitee who said the report put the time frame at between 25 to 30 years and not a lifetime as reported.
However, the Conference resolved that Federal Government should, as a matter of national urgency, start implementation
of UNEP report on Ogoni environmental problems without further delay.
Delegates also decided that a special agency be established by the Federal Government for the clean-up of the Niger
Delta, particularly areas identified by international environmental bodies as badly affected by oil spills.
It suggested that the Act establishing the Nigerian Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NASREA) should be amended to give it oversight over the entire environment including the oil and gas sector since, as presently operational, NASREA does not regulate the oil and gas sector.
In its recommendations, the committee stated that the vital need to preserve the integrity of the Nigerian
environment and thus secure its sustainability for present and future generations requires clear and direct stipulations in the Nigerian Constitution.
It said, “As a people living very closely to and depending for livelihoods on nature, we should enshrine the
rights of nature to maintain its natural cycles without disruption in our constitution.”
It stated further that although environment is fundamental to human existence, the 1999 Constitution made only
a passing reference to the environment and environmental rights at its Section 20.
It recommended that for Nigerians to secure the environment and related rights, “this has to be placed among the
fundamental rights section of the constitution and made fully justiciable.” The recommendation was upheld by the Conference.
It suggested that the power to legislate should without any ambiguity be given to the federating units; “the
administration of the environment should be in the Concurrent List in the constitution,” since the constitution has not located the environment at all in its fiscal schedules.
Professor Obiora Ike in his contribution said the committee’s report was silent on the need to make education on environmental issues compulsory from the primary level; and that the committee was also silent on noise pollution.
The Conference also decided that henceforth, the Ecological Fund Office should be moved from the Presidency to the Federal Ministry of Environment and must ensure that the Fund is specifically used to address ecological problems.
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