Former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Prof. Oladapo Afolabi, has called for the urgent review of Nigeria’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) law to strengthen sustainable development across the country.
Afolabi spoke on the sidelines of the 2025 Annual National Conference of the Association for Environmental Impact Assessment of Nigeria (AEIAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.
Afolabi who described EIA as a critical tool for guiding environmentally sound development, noted that the law had remained unchanged since it was enacted in 1992.
He said the age of the legislation — now 33 years — makes it necessary to revisit both its content and its practical application to reflect current realities and emerging environmental challenges.
Afolabi, also a former Director of Pollution Control at the Federal Ministry of Environment, said the EIA was essential for any development to be sustainable.
“The tool of Environmental Impact Assessment is essential for any development to be sustainable.
“But the law was made in 1992. We need to review it, both in terms of content and in terms of practice. It is still a work in progress,” he said.
He also described the EIA as a vital decision-making instrument that helps determine whether a project could proceed based on its potential environmental and social impacts.
He added that the scope of the EIA is robust enough to be expanded beyond project-level assessment to support wider societal well-being, including governance processes.
“When we assess the impact of any activity, we weigh it and make a pronouncement — go or don’t go.
“It’s such a robust tool that we can extend it even beyond projects to the overall well-being of society,” he said.
He urged policymakers and stakeholders in the environmental sector to prioritise institutional strengthening and modernization of the EIA framework.
He added that this would improve compliance, enhance transparency, and align Nigeria with current global best practices.
