Group urges review of EIA Act

Experts have taken a swipe at Nigeria’s Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) Act, saying the document needs a review.

The experts, who spoke at the validation workshop on “Improving Nigeria’s Environmental and Social Impact Assessments” (ESIAS), organised in Abuja by Heinrich Boell Foundation in collaboration with Environmental Resource Centre (ERC), said the Act should include social and economic impacts of projects on the people.

According to ERC’s founding Director, Mr. Keith Richards, there is need for review to include strong punitive actions against companies and individuals who violate Environmental Impact Assessment Act.

Richards, who recommended imprisonment as part of penalties for such violations, observed that the fines are not sufficient at the moment, to deter people from crossing the boundaries.

He argued that for instance, “The cost of doing an effective EIA to private company might seem too high compared to the fine if they failed to do it, which can be quite small.

“We have seen examples where people died as a result of failure to implement what is required on EIA, so there should be punitive action against companies and individuals who are negligent. This forms part of analysis being done before taking the Act to the National Assembly”, he said.

While noting that the fundamentals of the Nigeria’s EIA ACT are solid, he regretted that the implementation has remained a major issue.

According to him, there should be an inclusion of social impact so that it becomes ESIAS, while there should be more evaluation particularly in government projects where political pressures are often exerted to override the best interest of the environment and the local communities.

“For instance, the Super Highway project being embarked upon by the Cross River State Government, there could be political pressure to override some of the concerns of the environmentalists and the local people.