By Gift Olivia Samuel, The Sight News
ABUJA: In a bid to ensure a safer environment devoid of pollution, oil spillage and gas flaring, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), has expressed readiness to partner with Connected Development (CODE) and OXFAM to protect the environment.
The Director General of NESREA, Prof. Aliyu Jauro, made this known in Abuja, Wednesday when a delegation of CODE and OXFAM led by Hamzat Lawal and Henry Ushie, paid him a visit to discuss some of their campaigns, particularly in the Niger Delta region.
Prof. Jauro emphasized that the oil spillage and gas flaring in the Niger Delta region is a serious issue, adding that there is no way to stop these environmental problems without addressing the issues of inequality which is linked to poverty.
Commenting further, he said “Sensitization and environmental education is part of our key mandate so we are open to collaboration. The national action on the Guiding Principles are captured and issues of the environment is a human right issue. Inequality in West Africa is very high and there is a need to have a certain level of equality”.
Speaking on climate change, he said the Agency has a lot of regulations tailored to address climate change, such as the Regulation on the Control of Emission from petrol and diesel engines, Air Quality Regulations, and Sanitation and Waste Control, noting also that they are working to develop an Agricultural Sector Regulation.
He further disclosed that the Agency will be part of the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2022. “We are going to be part of COP27 because this Agency is key. We are ready to partner with you in the areas that are relevant to ensure that the environment is protected, as the mission of the Agency is to ensure a cleaner environment and if there is need for an MoU then we can work towards that”.
Earlier, CODE’s Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal, said his organization with support from OXFAM has for the past four years been working on a Conflict and Fragility project in the Niger Delta communities, leading debate around host communities, oil producing companies and also working closely with the government.
While seeking NESREA’s commitment to collaborate in the area of COP27, and participating in CODE’s Town Hall meetings with government agencies and host communities, he hinted on plans to explore signing a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding between CODE, OXFAM and NESREA, which could serve as a lesson to other organizations on how CSOs are working with government to improve service delivery and implementation of regulations and best practices across Nigeria.
For his part, Henry Ushie, OXFAM’s Project Coordinator, Fiscal Accountability for Inequality Reduction, said it is partnering with CODE to see how Nigeria’s natural resources can work for the most vulnerable in the environment and to also see how NESREA is involved in all of the conversations around zero emission, energy transition, and COP27.
“The point is that we cannot isolate ourselves from the rest of the world in terms of climate conversation. Environmental issues such as the heat, drought and erosion are here and they are affecting our people, so we can’t close our eyes against it.
“In the Niger Delta where the oil is explored, big companies have not been able to respect global standard which is why we are advocating for the use of the framework of the United Nations Global Guiding Principles on Human Rights and Business, to look at those best practices across the world of which Nigeria has actually signed up, and to see how we can respect this international framework in terms of the Respect, Protect and Remedial Protocols.
“Besides the environmental issues of gas flaring and oil spillage there are also the economic implications. Our people depend on the environment to survive such as fishing and farming. This is the conversation we’ve brought to you”, he concluded.
