Federal Republic of Nigeria Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Staple Crop Processing Zones Support Project (scpz)

The process for undertaking ESIA and other forms of environmental assessment in Nigeria is presented in the EIA Decree No. 86 of 1992. The Federal Government of Nigeria enacted the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) No. 86 of 1992 as a demonstration of her commitment to Rio declaration. Prior to the enactment of EIA act in Nigeria, project appraisals were limited predominantly to feasibility studies and economic – cost – benefits analysis. Most of these appraisals did not account for environmental costs, public opinion, and social and environmental impacts of development projects.

The EIA Act stipulates that all Agencies, Institutions (whether public or private) except exempted by the Act, shall, before embarking on proposed projects, apply in writing to The Federal Ministry of Environment so that subject activities can be quickly identified and allow for the conduct of environmental assessment(s) as the activities are being planned. The Act made provision for all stakeholders (agencies, public, experts, NGOs, communities, etc) to be notified, consulted and or given the opportunity to make comments on the EIA of a project prior to approval or disapproval.

The objectives of the EIA Act of 1992 among others include:

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  The establishment of the environmental effects of proposed activities before a decision is taken to embark upon them.
  
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  Promotion of the implementation of appropriate policy in all Federal land, states, and Local Government Area consistent with all laws and decision making process through which these goals in (1) above may be reached.
  
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  It encourages the development of procedures for information exchange, notification and constitution between organs and persons when proposed activities are likely to have significant effects on boundary or trans – state or on the environment bordering towns and villages.
  

Section 4 of the EIA Act specifies the minimum content of an EIA to include the following;

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  A description of the proposed activities;
  
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  A description of the potential affected environment, including detailed information necessary to identify and assess the environmental effects of the proposed activities;
  
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  A description of the practical activities;
  
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  An assessment of the likely or potential environmental and social impacts of the proposed activity and the alternatives, including the direct or indirect, cumulative, short-term and long-term effects;
  
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  An identification and description of measures available to mitigate negative environmental and social impacts of the proposed activity and assessment of those measures;
  
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  An indication of gaps in knowledge and uncertainty, which may be encountered in computing the required information;
  
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  An indication of whether the environment of any state or local government areas outside Nigeria is likely to be affected by the proposed activity or its alternatives; and
  
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  A brief and non-technical summary of the information provided under the above listed paragraphs.
  

After the dissemination of the EIA Act 86 in 1992, the Federal Ministry of Environment (formally called FEPA) came up with the EIA Procedural Guideline and Sectoral Guidelines for some Nigerian Economic sub-sectors. The EIA Procedural Guideline contains a list of steps which when carefully followed shall result in better project planning and a streamlined decision making process. These steps include, brief descriptions of the project environment and process, legal framework, identified impacts etc. These steps are;

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  Project proposal;
  
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  Initial environmental examination (IEE) / preliminary assessment;
  
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  Screening;
  
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  Scoping;
  
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  EIA study;
  
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  Review;
  
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  Decision making; and
  
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  Monitoring, and Auditing.
  

EIA Sectoral guideline in Nigeria

The sectoral Guidelines provide sector-specific guide for preparation of EIA reports. Sectoral guidelines have been developed for the following sectors.

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   Oil and Gas, including petroleum refining, petrochemical industry pipelines, on-shore, offshore exploration and drilling etc.
   
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   Infrastructures – including airports, construction, harbours, construction and expansion, railways highways, etc
   
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   Industries – including all other manufacturing industries, besides those in the oil and gas sector.
   
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   Agriculture - all agricultural practices including land clearing, afforestation projects, etc.
   
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   Mining – including solid minerals prospecting and exploration.
   

In practice, sectoral guidelines:

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  are most useful in the early stages of an environmental assessment when ToR for the ESIA are unavailable or are being prepared;
  
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  help with impact identification and in the development of detailed TOR for conducting an ESIA;  provide guidance on how to present information in the proper format to aid in review; and  provides useful information against which to evaluate the actual results of the ESIA.
  

ESIA studies and report preparation are the responsibilities of the project client. In the course of preparing an EIA Report of a proposed sub-project, all stakeholders should be consulted. The objective of such consultation is to identify early in the ESIA process, the worries of stakeholders regarding the impacts of the proposed sub-project in order to address such issues during the actual study and to reflect such comments in the sub-project’s ESIA report.

ESIA Review Process

To establish the type of review to be adopted, a draft ESIA report should be submitted to the Oyo State Ministry of Environment and Habitat and also the Federal Ministry of Environment by a client for evaluation. There are different forms of reviews, depending on the nature, scope, anticipated impact, risks, etc that may arise in project planning and implementation, and an ESIA report may be subject to any or a combination of these reviews. The various types of review are an in-house review, public review, panel review and mediation.

In – House Review

In order to assess how far issues raised in the Terms of Reference (ToR) have been addressed and to determine if the draft ESIA reports are suitable for public review (if necessary), all draft ESIA reports forwarded to the Ministry are reviewed in-house. If the in-house review finds that the issues in the report do not merit putting it on public display, the review process may be terminated at the in-house review stage. Some projects (e.g. those that fall under Category III of the EIA Act) may be recommended for approval by the Ministry’s In-House Panel of Experts.

The provisions of Section 25 of the EIA Act states that, ‘interested members of the public are given the opportunity to participate in the ESIA review process through comments on project reports that are put on display’. Displays are usually done for a 21 working day period at strategic locations. Notices of such venues of display are usually published in the National and relevant State daily newspapers and information about such display are complemented with further announcements on the relevant state electronic media. Often times, the venues of displays include the Local Government Headquarters, where a project is located, the State Ministry of Environment or Environmental Protection Agency(s), The Federal Ministry of Environment. Comments received from the display venues are forwarded to the Federal Ministry of Environment Headquarters as well as the Oyo State Ministry of Environment and Habitat for collation and evaluation preparatory to the Review Panel meeting for the project.

Review Panel

After the public display exercise, The Federal Ministry of Environment and Oyo State Ministry of Environment and Habitat may decide to set up a review panel to review the draft ESIA report depending on the sensitivity or significance of the comments received.

The review panel meetings are held in the public so that stakeholders can utilize this opportunity to put forward their views and concerns for consideration. The choice of members of the review panel depends on the type of project, its scope as well as the ecosystem to be affected. However, the Chairman of the affected Local Government(s) and the Commissioner of Environment of the project location are always included in the Panel.

Mediation ;

Projects that are likely to cause significant negative effects that are immitigable, or of public concerns are referred to Federal Ministry of Environment Ministerial council for subsequent referral to mediation. For a mediation to be set up, Ministerial Council would have been convinced that the parties involved are willing to participate in the mediation and to abide by its decisions.

ESIA Approval

After the submission of a satisfactory final ESIA report, the Federal Ministry of Environment and Oyo State Ministry of Environment and Habitat could decide to set a number of conditions for the approval of the implementation of the project. Such conditions usually include a statement that mitigation measures highlighted in the projects ESIA report shall be complied with.

Impact Mitigation Monitoring (IMM)

The following are the objectives of an ESIA Impact mitigation monitoring:

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  Check that mitigation measures are implemented as appropriate;
  
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  Determine whether environmental changes are as a result of project developments and/or natural variation;
  
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  Monitor emissions and discharges at all stages of project development for compliance with regulatory standards;
  
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  Compare effluent quality/quantity with design specifications and statutory standards;
  
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  Determine the effectiveness of Environmental Management Plans, Environmental Monitoring Plans and especially the mitigation measures to predicted impacts and to also act as a feedback mechanism towards the improvement of the ESIA Evaluation and Approval process;
  
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  Determine duration of identified impacts;
  
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  Create a data bank for future development of predictive tools.
  

The Legal requirements for Impact Mitigation Monitoring in the EIA process are specified in Sections 16 (c), 17 (2) (c), 37 (c), (1), 40 (1) (a) (2), 41(1) and 41 (2) of the EIA Act as well as Section 11 of the EIA procedural guideline

Environmental Impact Monitoring is designed to monitor the Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP), and concerns during project operations. It is also designed to ascertain the extent to which commitments contained in EIA reports are reflected during the various phases of project development and operations.

Impact Mitigation Monitoring (IMM) exercises are conducted to assess the degree and effectiveness of the mitigation measures offered in an ESIA report. Hence, relevant documents, in-house monitoring records as they affect the project, the project implementation schedule, as well as all other documents to support the environmental good housekeeping of the project are scrutinized and verified.

In a typical Impact Mitigation Monitoring exercise, the following statutory actions are carried out,

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  Facility inspection;
  
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  Interactive session with project managers on the Mitigation Checklist for the ESIA of that subproject;
  
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  Interview and interaction with the action party responsible for ensuring full implementation of a particular action;
  
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  Inspection and Verification of the parameters that shall be monitored to ensure effective implementation of that action;
  
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  Check the timing for the implementation of the action to ensure that the objectives of mitigation are fully met;
  
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  Interact with project Engineers and Technicians on mitigation measures that are not applicable, or not enforceable or still not practicable in line with good environmental principles with a view to finding out practical alternatives.
  

At the conclusion of an IMM exercise, a report should be written for the Minister/Head of Department’s approval, after which, necessary suggested corrective measures would be communicated to the client.