N’Assembly Environment Committee Chairmen Absent at EIA‎ Act Review Workshop

By Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Senate Committee Chairman on Environment, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, as well as her House of Representatives counterpart, Hon. Obinna Chidoka, were major absentees at a workshop organised by the ministry as part of a series of consultations‎ aimed at amending and expanding the Environmental Assessment Impact (EIA) Act to incorporate emerging and global issues.

‎The workshop organised Monday in Abuja by the Department of Environmental Impact Assessment, Ministry of Environment, is also aimed at bridging institutional and legislative gaps identified in the course of implementing the EIA Act 2004.

Delivering his keynote address, Minister of Environment Usman Jibril said that the federal government enacted the EIA Act as a commitment to ensuring sustainable development.

The minister, who was represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. Sheu ‎Ahmed, added that the Act sets out procedure and methods to enable prior consideration of EIA of certain public and private ‎projects and also empowers the ministry to process EIA projects and programmes.

According to him, “The implementation of EIAs‎ in Nigeria is a key aspect of Agenda 21 in Principle 17 of the Rio Declaration of principles. The EIA Act has been in operation for more than two decades now. However, in the course of implementation, a number of gaps, omissions and inadequacies have been identified.”

Details later…

Related Articles