The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) is scaling up its engagement with National Orientation Agency (NOA) to drive home its environmental the message and prompting deliver early warnings to avert disaster in the country.
Addressing a press conference on the achievements of the agency in the last one year, the Director General of NESREA, Dr. Innocent Barikor said: “Our regular awareness creation in all States of the Federation and the FCT is on course.
“In addition to the sensitization activities by our Zonal and State Field Officers, we are scaling up our engagement with the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in the area of information dissemination, leveraging on its offices spread out in 774 Local Government Areas of the country and the Community Mobilization Officers to reach out to every single Nigerian on environmental issues and early warnings.”
Barikor while lamented that: “A large number of our National Environmental Regulations have become somewhat obsolete and do not address emerging environmental issues, and some thematic areas need to be better regulated,” said: “To address this, we have thought it wise to review and amend some key extant Regulations while some new ones are being developed to bridge the gaps.”
He said that: “These include the National Environmental (Permitting and Licensing Systems) Regulations 2009 and the National Environmental (International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora) Regulations 2011 which have been reviewed and have undergone all processes ready for gazzetting,” adding that the National Environmental (Battery Sector Control) Regulations 2024 has been gazzetted while the National Environmental (Plastic Waste Control) Regulations is underway.
He noted that: “These Regulations all aim to achieve specific targeted outcomes such as improved air quality, environmental conservation, and reduced exposure to waste and hazardous substances.
“This is accomplished by issuing Environmental Permits to the regulated community to ensure they adhere to set standards. In this regard, the Agency had in the last one year, processed and issued about 878 Air Quality, and Waste & Toxic Substance Permits to facilities in the different sectors of the green and brown environment.”
Barikor disclosed that some NESREA offices have been upgraded for efficiency. He said: “We have also unbundled our operational offices across the various States. These are three (3) in Lagos State, and one (1) each in Ogun, Nasarawa, Anambra, Kaduna, Niger and Kano States. The aim is to enhance efficiency, effectiveness and responsiveness towards environmental issues within the communities, as well as ensure improved service delivery in our operations.”
On some of the projects to be given top priority in 2025, Barikor said: “This year, enhancing our laboratory capabilities also remains top priority. We are committed to upgrading our three existing Reference Laboratories and standardizing their operations to ensure optimal performance and efficiency. This enhancement is particularly crucial, as our laboratory results play important role in generating reliable data which would not only afford us the information on the severity of the environmental impact, but also serves as critical evidence in the event of criminal prosecution of environmental crimes.”
He said: “NESREA as an Agency works hard to afford Nigerians and all who reside in Nigeria a better environment in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of this present Administration of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This we cannot achieve alone, without the support of Nigerians, I therefore seize this opportunity to urge all Nigerians to be true environmental watchdogs, by blowing the whistle on any crime or infraction that affects the environment while supporting sustainable practices.”
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