ENVIRONMENTAL protection stakeholders have called for a comprehensive overhaul of Nigeria’s environmental governance framework, warning that the country’s three decade old laws are obsolete and ill equipped to handle modern energy transitions without repeating past ecological mistakes.

Executive Director of the CLEEN Foundation, Peter Maduoma, noted that while renewable energy, critical minerals, and emerging technologies offer immense economic diversification, the transition must not compromise environmental safety or community rights.

He made this known at a media briefing towards Strengthening Nigeria’s Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) Framework for a Just Energy Transition, yesterday in Abuja

Maduoma said that inadequate oversight and weak enforcement in regions like the Niger Delta have historically led to severe degradation, citing personal experiences of heavy industrial pollution and compromised living standards.

He cautioned that a similar foresight deficit now threatens upcoming green technologies, pointing to unregulated household installations like lithium battery storage and widespread solar panel placements without clear long-term disposal strategies.

He advised; “We must ensure that the pursuit of a cleaner energy future does not reproduce the environmental injustice of the past.”

He also emphasising that environmental and social impact assessments must go beyond administrative red tape to become active governance instruments.

While presenting the findings of the body’s research, Director of Programs at the CLEEN Foundation, Dr Salaudeen Hashim, stated that current regulatory tools fail to meet contemporary needs and leave the country disconnected from global shifts in energy technology.

Hashim pointed that Nigeria’s foundational Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) framework, designed about 30 years ago, is ridden with systemic loopholes, compromises, and a lack of forensic laboratory capacity, with many industrial projects commencing without proper assessments.

“Our current environmental governance framework was not built for the future. We are rushing into a new transition, but we are not taking it slowly to do a review and assess where we currently are,” Hashim cautioned.

The foundation urged the Federal Government, the National Assembly, and regulatory agencies to modernize the EIA Act of 1992.

They recommended integrating climate considerations, establishing transparent community benefit-sharing arrangements, and providing accessible grievance mechanisms to ensure host communities actively participate in decisions.

Highlighting the indispensable role of the media in holding decision-makers accountable, the organisation called for swift multi-sectoral collaboration to translate the research findings into progressive legislation, stronger institutional accountability, and tangible protection for vulnerable communities nationwide.

Also, Chief Engineer at the National Environmental Standards and Regulatory Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Nengi Obuoforibo, while contending CLEEN Foundation for the research, cautioned that while transitioning to cleaner forms of energy, they must be done in a sustainable manner and to ensure environmental protection.