What environmental impact assessment means
An environmental impact assessment is a structured study of what a proposed project will do to its environment.
It examines the likely effects on air, water, land, ecosystems and the communities nearby, considers alternatives, and sets out how the significant effects will be avoided or reduced.
The purpose is preventive. Once a refinery, a factory, a road or a large estate has been built, its environmental effects are difficult to undo. The assessment brings that examination forward to the point where the project can still be modified.
Nigeria's framework is the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, administered at federal level by the Federal Ministry of Environment, which sets out categories of project for which an assessment is required before commencement.
State environmental agencies operate alongside, with their own requirements. In Lagos the state environmental protection machinery imposes its own obligations, and a project may need to satisfy both levels.
How it is used
The process follows recognisable stages.
Screening determines whether an assessment is required and at what level, by reference to the category of project and its scale.
Scoping identifies the issues the study must address and the extent of the work.
The study itself is conducted by qualified consultants: baseline data, impact prediction, mitigation measures and an environmental management plan.
The report is submitted and reviewed, and there is provision for public display and comment, so affected communities can respond.
A decision follows, which may approve the project, approve it subject to conditions, or refuse.
Where approval is granted with conditions, those conditions become obligations for the life of the project, and monitoring and reporting continue.
For a developer, the practical point is timing. The assessment belongs in the project programme from the outset, alongside the land acquisition and the building plan approval, because it takes months and it must be completed before commencement rather than alongside construction.
Key features
- A study of a project's likely environmental effects, before it proceeds
- Required for categories of project under the Environmental Impact Assessment Act
- Administered federally by the Federal Ministry of Environment
- State environmental agencies impose their own requirements
- Involves screening, scoping, study, public display and decision
- Conditions attached to approval continue through the life of the project
How this works in Nigeria
Two practical realities matter for a Nigerian developer or industrial operator.
The first is the federal and state overlap. A project may require federal assessment under the Act and separate clearance from the state environmental agency, and satisfying one does not satisfy the other. Establish which apply at the outset, because sequencing them badly adds months.
The second is enforcement. Projects have been stopped, sealed and fined for proceeding without required environmental approval, and the exposure is not theoretical. A development that has already broken ground and is then halted is losing money every day while the position is regularised, and regularisation is more expensive and less certain than approval would have been.
Sectoral overlays add further requirements. Oil and gas operations answer to the regulator for that sector as well, and mining, power and waste projects each carry their own environmental obligations.
For a large estate or industrial development, the practical checklist before commencement is: title perfected, building plan approval obtained, environmental assessment completed where required, state environmental clearance obtained, and any sectoral licence in place. Missing any one of them stops the project.
Community engagement deserves separate mention. The public display stage exists for a reason, and a project that engages affected communities properly encounters far less resistance than one that appears without warning. In Nigerian practice, community relations are as significant to a project's progress as the formal approvals.
EIA vs building plan approval vs sectoral licence
Three approvals a significant Nigerian development may need, answering different questions.
Building plan approval, from the state or municipal planning authority, asks whether this structure may be built on this plot: setbacks, coverage, height, drainage and access.
An environmental impact assessment asks what the project will do to its environment, and whether the significant effects can be avoided or reduced. It applies to categories of project by type and scale rather than to every building.
A sectoral licence asks whether the operator may carry on that activity at all: a mining lease, a petroleum licence, a power generation licence, a waste management permit.
They are cumulative and they run on different timetables. A project that obtained building approval and started construction without the environmental assessment has one approval and a stop work exposure.
Limits and risks
The process is expensive and slow, which is a genuine burden for mid sized projects that fall within the categories.
Consultant quality varies, and a poorly conducted assessment produces a report that is rejected or that fails to identify effects that later cause problems.
Enforcement is also uneven, which encourages some operators to proceed without, until a project is stopped.
And approval with conditions creates continuing obligations that require monitoring capacity the operator may not have planned for.
Worth knowing
Put the environmental assessment in the project programme from day one, alongside title and building approval. A Nigerian project stopped after breaking ground loses money every day while it is regularised, and regularisation costs more than approval and may not be granted.
Questions people ask
Which projects need an EIA in Nigeria?
Categories of project set out under the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, determined by type and scale. Screening at the outset establishes whether an assessment is required and at what level.
Who administers it?
The Federal Ministry of Environment at federal level under the Act, with state environmental agencies imposing their own requirements alongside. A project may need to satisfy both.
What does the process involve?
Screening, scoping, the study itself with baseline data and mitigation measures, submission and review including public display and comment, and a decision that may approve, approve with conditions, or refuse.
What happens if a project starts without one?
Projects have been stopped, sealed and fined. A development already under construction loses money every day while the position is regularised, and regularisation is more expensive and less certain than approval.
Does building plan approval cover it?
No. Building approval asks whether the structure may be built on the plot. The environmental assessment asks what the project will do to its environment. They are separate and cumulative.
Do the obligations end at approval?
No. Conditions attached to an approval become obligations for the life of the project, with monitoring and reporting requirements the operator must resource.