NESREA, CSOs To Partner On Climate Change

The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) says it would  partner with OXFAM and Connected Development (CODE) on climate change  and challenges in oil-bearing communities.
Prof. Aliyu Jauro,  Director-General, NESREA said this in Abuja when the Civil Society Organisations paid an advocacy visit to the agency.
Jauro said that the agency had a set of regulations targeted at controlling ecosystem challenges like wetland, river banks and lake shores to ensure that whatever was done did not impact on the environment negatively.
He added that there were also  regulations on  coastal and marine area protection, surface and ground water quality control, soil erosion and flood control, among others, to ensure good environment and  tackle climate change.
According to him, there is the need for companies to abide by the guidelines of NESREA  to curb environmental hazards and for communities to benefit from extractive  resources.
“You  mentioned the National Action Plan as the guiding principle, which talks about how companies do their business  in relationship to the issue of human rights.
“There is what is called the Environmental Impact Assessment  which requires  the incorporation of social components and they are all issues of human rights;  so there is need for companies to abide by these  regulations in whatever they do .
“There is also the corporate social responsibilities guideline,  these are the only ways we can reduce inequality which is very high in West Africa as it is mentioned that the entire wealth of West  Africa is in the hands of one per cent of the population.
“This is because  there is need to have a certain level of equality.
In some developed countries, they found a way of taxing such rich people to bring  equality to the system, so there is  need for Nigeria to try and see how it could reduce the inequality gap.”
Jauro said that the agency would collaborate with the  CSOs to see how it could drive some of its policies and ensure companies abided by the guidelines, adding that  it was the only way to reduce inequality.
Mr Henry Ushie, Project Coordinator,  Fiscal Accountability for Inequality Reduction OXFAM, said that  the CSOs were   advocating for communities and countries to be environment conscious in terms of climate change adaptation and resilience.