APPRAISING THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Environmental problems constitute one of the key development challenges in the African continent.The socioeconomic
impact of environmental deterioration in Africa poses a major problem to development, stability, and daily
lifestyles. Nigeria has a total land area of 983,213 square Kilometres with over 140 million people. The interaction of these
millions of Nigerians with their respective environment has left indelible mark on the landscape. The manifestation of these
impacts includes; urbanization, deforestation, desertification, overpopulation and all kinds of pollution. In response to this,
successive governments in Nigeria have developed various institutional frameworks for environmental management.
However, the impact of these institutions on environmental quality is yet to be felt as the level of environmental degradation
continues to rise in different parts of the country. This paper appraises the institutional frameworks for environmental
management in Nigeria with a view to improving its effectiveness in environmental management in Nigeria. The paper
utilized both primary and secondary data sources. The primary data were obtained through indebt interview of key officials
of environment ministry at the federal level while environmental documents and regulations of government were content
analysed. The analysis of data shows weak institutional frameworks for environmental management arising from lack of
coordination of environmental policies and responsibilities among various government ministries, weak capacity among staff
of the various ministries, ineffectiveness of existing environmental policies, regulations and enforcement, political instability
and lack of political will, frequent changes in policy and programmes, among other problems. The paper among others
things calls for the establishment of an effective enforcement programme , development of clear mandate for enforcement
among various ministries to avoid inter-ministry conflicts and capacity building of key staff in the environment ministries.