‘Nigerian Environment Increasingly Being Polluted’

Health of Mother Earth Foundation( HOMEF), a non-governmental organisation in Nigeria has lamented the increasing environmental problem facing the country.
This was contained in a paper titled, The Nigerian Environment: A Rear View”.
Presented by Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) at the 68th Conference/Congress of the Historical Society of Nigeria held in Lagos .
According to Bassey, The Nigerian environmental problem has grown with increasing population of the country.
He regretted that successive administrations in the country have not been able to solve the country environmental problem.
According to him, “the environmental history of Nigeria unfortunately is not a story filled with the rich biodiverse tropical rainforests of the Niger Delta or the cascading rich vegetation of the Sahel saVanna but rather one marred with bloodshed, exploitation, pollution, death, destruction, and devastation.
“There was no agency in Nigeria that was saddled with the task of policing the environment until after the discovery in 1988 of toxic wastes that were dumped in Koko, a town in Delta State, Nigeria.
‘Before then, Nigeria responded to most environmental problems on an ad hoc basis, with citizens largely bearing the weight of impacts and responses.
He noted that the Koko incident woke the nation to the need for planned and coordinated action and led to the creation of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency 1988 (FEPA), through Decree 58.
The agency was charged with the administration and enforcement of environmental laws.
Due to the inadequacy of existing laws for environmental protection prior to the Koko Toxic Waste Dump saga, one of the relevant decrees enacted by the then military government was the Harmful Waste (Special Criminal Provisions, etc) Decree 42.
He however said that
Over the years, from I988 till present day, As Nigeria has grown in population, economic and politically, it also seems that our environmental problems, challenges have grown also. Indeed, you will find as many environmental problems and challenges as you care to name. Some of these challenges, Bassey said some challenges facing the country’s environment stem from lack of implementation of relevant laws, adding most of those polluting the environment are not being made to account for it.
He said those polluting the environment should be made to account for their actions

By: John Bibor