Experts and environmental stakeholders have called for an urgent overhaul of Nigeria’s 34-year-old Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) law, warning that the existing framework is no longer adequate to address the environmental, social and climate risks associated with the country’s transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
The call was made during a two-day policy lab organised by the Cleen Foundation to examine Nigeria’s preparedness for a just energy transition, with particular focus on energy, environmental protection, and governance.
The stakeholders argued that while Nigeria is under growing pressure to move towards cleaner sources of energy, the country risks repeating the environmental mistakes associated with decades of oil and gas exploitation if adequate safeguards are not built into the transition process.
Programme Director of the Cleen Foundation, Salaudeen Hashim, said the policy lab was designed to interrogate weaknesses in the country’s existing EIA framework and develop evidence-based recommendations that could assist government in making informed decisions on energy transition.
Hashim said Nigeria’s EIA process had become obsolete and was contributing to weaknesses in the country’s response to environmental degradation.
According to him, the question should no longer be whether Nigeria will transition from fossil fuels but whether the transition will be environmentally sustainable and socially just.
“Does transition mean going green, or does it mean being just?” Hashim asked, stressing that communities must be able to participate meaningfully in the transition and benefit from the emerging energy economy.
He said renewable energy must be accessible, affordable, and available, while communities should be included across the value chain.
Hashim warned that Nigeria could not afford to reproduce the same environmental failures of the oil era as it develops solar, hydrogen, and other emerging energy technologies.
He cited the Niger Delta as a stark example of the consequences of weak environmental safeguards, noting that the region has suffered decades of pollution and degradation linked to fossil fuel activities.
He said the region’s experience should serve as a warning as Nigeria moves towards cleaner energy.
“If we transit to just energy, are we also going to make the same mistakes that we made with fossil fuel, or are we going to provide safeguards ahead of time?” he queried.
Six pillars for reform
Senior Lecturer in Environmental Systems at the University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom, Kabari Sam, said the policy lab was based on a six-pillar framework developed to assess the readiness of Nigeria’s environmental assessment system for a just energy transition.
The framework examines legal and policy provisions, community participation and inclusion, accountability and transparency, climate change integration, institutional capacity, and other critical safeguards necessary for sustainable energy development.
Sam said Nigeria’s current EIA Act, enacted in 1992, was developed at a time when climate change had not assumed the prominence it has today and therefore failed to adequately integrate climate considerations into environmental assessment.
He said this gap had become particularly important as Nigeria considers new energy technologies, including hydrogen, solar, and potentially nuclear energy.
“At the moment, as a country, we are not prepared, we are not ready,” Sam said, stressing the need to strengthen the law before the country accelerates its renewable energy transition.
He identified community participation as another major weakness in the existing system.
According to him, although the current law contains provisions for community involvement, implementation has not been effective enough to ensure that communities participate throughout the environmental assessment process.
He advocated the adoption of both procedural justice, which ensures communities have a voice in decisions affecting them, and distributive justice, which ensures that benefits are fairly shared while communities are not left to bear disproportionate environmental risks.
Sam also identified institutional fragmentation as a major challenge to effective environmental governance.
He called for stronger coordination of environmental responsibilities under the Federal Ministry of Environment, arguing that environmental functions currently scattered among different government agencies should be better coordinated.
He specifically questioned the environmental responsibilities assigned to institutions such as the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), arguing that environmental management should be more firmly coordinated by the Ministry of Environment.
He also cited environmental remediation arrangements under the Petroleum Industry Act as areas requiring clearer institutional coordination.
Battery waste, solar panels raise new concerns
Beyond the immediate transition from fossil fuels, Hashim said Nigeria must begin preparing for the environmental consequences of renewable energy technologies themselves.
He raised concerns about the absence of clear and deliberate policies for the disposal and recycling of batteries and solar panels as renewable energy deployment expands.
He warned that without a functioning recycling and disposal system, materials that are currently being promoted as solutions to climate change could eventually create new environmental problems.
“If there are issues where you want to replace them, you have a recycling plant that can help recycle the battery,” he said, stressing the need for proper end-of-life management of renewable energy equipment.
He also questioned how excess electricity generated from distributed renewable systems would be managed, including whether such power could be integrated into the national grid rather than wasted.
For the stakeholders, these issues demonstrate why environmental assessment must evolve beyond simply examining the immediate impact of conventional industrial projects.
Mangrove protection becomes part of the energy transition debate
The policy lab also linked energy transition to the protection and restoration of Nigeria’s natural ecosystems, particularly mangroves.
Hashim described mangroves as critical in addressing climate change because of their ability to store carbon while expressing concern over continued deforestation and logging.
He argued that government policies must not undermine climate objectives by permitting activities that destroy important carbon sinks.
He said Nigeria needed to modernise its environmental governance framework and move away from what he described as outdated approaches that have failed to adequately protect the environment.
Experts demand broader impact assessment
Professor Mbalisi Festus, a professor of Environmental Education at the University of Stavros, described the review of the EIA framework as timely, saying the 1992 law was overdue for reform.
He said the policy lab provided an opportunity for stakeholders to examine research findings, identify institutional weaknesses, and contribute practical recommendations towards strengthening environmental management in Nigeria.
Mbalisi particularly criticised the practice of embarking on projects without adequate environmental and social impact assessments.
