Evaluation of Environmental Rights Violation, Environmental Protection Legislations and Agencies in Nigeria

The study is a critical evaluation of environmental legislation and agencies in the control and management of environmental rights violations in the Niger Delta. Arguably, the physical environment is the major and overall natural resource that not only embodies the existence of man but also ensures his survival, as well as the socio-economic development of the physical state and its constituents. Hence, the responsibility of protecting the environment against degradable violations is as ancient as the existence of man itself. The study therefore aimed at critically evaluating the extant environmental legislations and agencies in Nigeria in the control, mitigation, and management of environmental rights violations in the resource-rich Niger Delta region of the country. The qualitative method was used for the study through the descriptive-analytical research design. The structural-functional theory was adopted for the study. On the part of environmental legislation, it was found that not only did some legislations offer meagre punitive measures for heinous environmental crimes, but they also monetized these crimes. On the part of the agencies, the study found that challenges of inadequate funding, inadequate and poorly trained staff, absence of national presence, and paucity of data, impede the fight against environmental rights violations. It was recommended that punitive measures of environmental legislation like the Associated Gas (Re-injection) Act, 2004 should be reviewed to remove the monetization of offences while also establishing more stringent penalties like forfeiture of concession, nationalization, etc.