SITUATING THE CONCEPTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABILITY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The need to explore the subsisting environmental framework in Nigeria has multi-faceted implicated notions. The first notion is to understand the related environmental governance as well as sustainable development. The second notion is to appreciate the nexus between environmental laws in Nigeria and the concomitant regulatory institutions vis-a vis subsisting international instruments and Nigerian state commitment to the global instruments. The study explores Nigeria’s environmental laws, regulatory agencies, and international commitments while identifying gaps that hinder effective environmental management. Using qualitative analysis, the paper highlights major environmental concerns such as deforestation, oil pollution, urban waste, and climate change. The findings reveal that weak enforcement, corruption, inadequate public awareness, and poor institutional coordination undermine sustainability efforts. A core environmental statute linking piecemeal and scattered components of environmental legislation into a body of law is yet to be achieved in Nigeria. There is therefore a need for a principal statute for the management of the Nigerian environment. Nigeria therefore needs an integrated, coherent and a more robust all-encompassing framework and a well-focused environmental regime to serve as core principle legislation on the management of the Nigerian environment.