Environment in 2017: Still much talk, little action from govt , says ERA

The year 2017 may have come and gone, however, environmental rights groups have said that the Nigerian government has not lived up to expectation in its responsibilities towards the environment in the outgone year.

Responding to Ecoscope’s questions on how Nigeria’s environment sector fared in 2017, Philip Jakpor, Head, Media and Campaigns of the Environmental Rights Action, said, “A lot of issues made the news in the environment sector in 2017. The country experienced flooding of unimaginable proportions in Lagos and in the Middle Belt of the country. The case of Lagos between July and August was particularly shocking as the floods ravaged not only the slums, but also highbrow areas of Lekki and Ajah and made a mockery of the state government’s much-touted campaign about confronting issues related to buildings blocking flood plains and blocked drains.

“Emergency response was still at its lowest as most of the victims of these disasters resorted to self-help.”

Continuing, he said that “the Niger Delta remained in the news with more pollution by oil corporations especially in Bayelsa State.

“We are also witnesses to the failure of government to commence clean-up of polluted Ogoniland in Rivers State. Since after the flag-off of the exercise in 2016, we had anticipated that in 2017 we would see concrete and verifiable actions as recommended in the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Assessment Report on Ogoniland. But the reverse is the case.”

Jakpor said, “I was in some parts of Ogoniland just last November and still saw dead fish in the identified environmental hotspots like Bodo; with oil slicks still uncleaned, and frustrated people. I still saw so-called clean-up exercises that can only be described as bucket and spade clean-up.

“At the ministry level, I still believe the Ministry of Environment is still much talk, not too much coordination and little action. We still see Nigerian delegations from the ministry attending all kinds of treaty meetings in Europe and elsewhere and doing little or nothing to domesticate them or harmonising them with existing laws.”

As 2018 rolls on there are high expectations from interest groups that there will be deftness on the part of governments in addressing environmental issues this year.