Environmental Insecurity in Nigeria

The need to maintain a clean and healthy environment has taken the centre stage in both intellectual discourses and policy frameworks of many states in the past few decades. The need to ensure a sustainable environment is better appreciated when discussed against the background of the harmful calamity environmental hazards such as climate change, flooding, global warming, ozone layer depletion, air/water pollution and deforestation have caused and are causing in the different regions of the world. In Nigeria, the challenge of environmental security only gained prominence in 1987, following the dumping of toxic waste in Koko village of Delta State. Against this background, this chapter outlines the environmental challenges which constitute security threats in Nigeria—frightening gully sites, desertification, seasonal flooding, oil spillage and water pollution, illicit and unarticulated refuse dumps and industrial wastes in most metropolis. The chapter briefly highlights the past efforts of the government towards ensuring safe and clean environment, starting with the promulgation of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) Act 1988. The chapter basically argues that the weak institutional capacity of the state institutions responsible for environmental management and protection accounts for the challenge of environmental insecurity. It therefore recommends the strengthening of agencies involved with environmental management and attitudinal change among Nigerians.