POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF ILORIN SOUTH, KWARA STATE
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Date
2018
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Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Abstract
There are many problems, challenges and opportunities associated with the living environment today. The earth and its treasure base is experiencing a siege from all aspects of human endeavours. Environmental management requires not just planning but the basis upon which objective evaluation can be made and the degree of success or failure of management performance. There have been cases of air pollution emanating from Automobiles, water pollution, gas flaring, hazardous wastes. Etc. However, the scope of environmental laws is concerned with those areas of laws, national, regional or international which focus on planning and protecting the environment. This research takes a look at potential impact of environmental laws for sustainable environment in Nigeria using Ilorin as a case study, with the view to ensure proper assessment of environmental laws in Nigeria with particular reference to Kwara State. In order for this vision to materialize, existing environmental law(s) in Kwara State were identified and assessed, the need of the environmental law(s) and the agencies in charge of the enforcement of this law(s) were all assessed accordingly. The general objective of the study is to show how laws can be used to promote environmental sustainability. A case study of Ilorin-South Local Government Area was the research design employed, with total number of respondents sampled standing at Eighty – Five (85) which includes residents in and out of Ilorin South, government officials both at Kwara State Environmental Protection Agency (KWEPA) and Ministry of Environment and Forestry. To this effect, analyses of various data based on the objectives of this research were descriptively analysed with the use of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). It can be recalled that the summary of the findings revealed that the rate of degradation of Ilorin South Area of study has exceeded the capability of the existing laws to respond, environmental laws on environmental sustainability has little impact and lack of public awareness about most of the existing laws. However, the KWEPA laws are outdated and have long been reviewed since 2006. Introduction of Public-Private Partnership along with Citizen Science Education were among the few recommendations made to sharpen the environmental law(s) of the land, in order to give hope to environmental sustainability and the research conclusively leaves a trail of further research.
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Keywords
Environmental Law, Sustainable Development, Impact, Environment
Citation
Bako, A. I., Raheem, W. M., and Aduloju, O. T. (2018). Potential Impacts of Environmental Laws for Sustainable Development in Nigeria: A Case Study of Ilorin South, Kwara State. In Environment and the Challenge of Sustainable Development, A. Adedayo (Ed.), (pp. 541-568). Ilorin: Department of Geography and Environmental Management. UNILORIN Press.