Decades of deforestation, oil spills, pollution, and weak regulation have left much environmental ruin. A proposed law could be Nigeria’s best chance to protect both people and planet.
Once blessed with vast forests, clean rivers, and thriving mangroves, Nigeria’s environment has been battered by decades of unchecked industrialisation, oil exploitation, and weak regulation. At 65 years of independence, Nigeria stands at a crossroads.
Now, the Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP) cautions that the survival of both people and ecosystems depends on a new legal framework strong enough to match today’s realities.
Nigeria’s population has soared from 45 million in 1960 to over 220 million today, bringing with it rapid urban expansion, mounting waste, and escalating pressure on her landscape.
The scale of environmental decline is sobering. Nigeria now loses more than 350,000 hectares of forest every year, making it one of the fastest deforesting nations in the world.
Pollution and public health
Oil spills have scarred the Niger Delta mangroves. since the 1950s, an estimated 13 million barrels of oil have leaked into its waters, destroying fish stocks and poisoning local communities. In cities like Port Harcourt, residents breathe PM2.5 levels several times higher than WHO safety limits, while black soot from illegal refining continues to choke the air.
Desertification consumes nearly 35,000 hectares of land annually in northern Nigeria, while climate change has worsened flooding nationwide. The 2022 floods alone claimed over 600 lives, destroyed 200,000 homes, displaced 1.4 million people, and wiped out over 569,000 hectares of crops, a disaster that cost the economy a maximum of $9.12 billion.
At the same time, poor sanitation remains a stubborn problem: nearly 48 million Nigerians still practise open defecation, contaminating rivers and groundwater and fuelling disease outbreaks such as cholera and diarrhoea.
Nigeria’s main environmental law, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Act of 2004, is badly out of step with modern threats. It was designed for a smaller, less industrialised country and does not adequately address climate change, cumulative air pollution, or health equity.
Weak enforcement and outdated penalties mean industries often pollute with impunity, while the burden falls on citizens who suffer illness, displacement, and rising poverty.
The proposed Environmental, Social, and Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA) Bill offers a path forward. Already through its first reading in the House of Representatives, the bill embeds free, prior, and informed consent for communities, mandates enforceable penalties for violators, and strengthens oversight agencies to monitor compliance.
Unlike the outdated EIA law, ESHIA explicitly integrates disaster risk reduction and requires developers to consider not just environmental footprints but also social and health impacts.
Environmental lessons from African peers
Nigeria is not alone in facing these challenges, but other African countries are moving faster to strengthen protections. Kenya, for instance, revised its environmental laws under the 1999 Environmental Management and Coordination Act, which has since been updated to address climate change and community rights.
Rwanda, often cited as a continental model, has embedded environmental sustainability into its constitution, banned single-use plastics, and achieved one of Africa’s lowest deforestation rates.
By contrast, Nigeria’s regulatory framework remains outdated and weak, leaving it behind regional peers despite being Africa’s largest economy. Unless Nigeria modernises its laws, it risks becoming a regional laggard in environmental governance, with dangerous consequences for its people, food security, and long-term growth.
Passing the ESHIA Bill would mark a turning point. By requiring that infrastructure, mining, oil, and urban projects are assessed for health and social risks, the law could prevent disasters before they strike. It would also give polluted or displaced communities a legal basis to demand accountability and compensation.
As Nigeria reflects on 65 years of independence, the call for stronger environmental laws is expedient. Without decisive action, worsening floods, desertification, and pollution could undermine food security, public health, and national stability.
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