NESREA as Environmental Regulator, as Environmental Operator, as Capacity Builder, as Job Creator; and NESREA as Environmental Advisor.
NESREA Functions
National Environmental Standards And Regulations Enforcement
Agency (NESREA) has responsibility for the protection and development of the
environment, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development of Nigeria’s
natural resources in general and environmental technology including
coordination and liaison with relevant stakeholders within and outside Nigeria
on matters of enforcement of environmental standards, regulations, rules, laws,
policies and guidelines.
Some functions of the Agency are to:
• enforce
compliance with laws, guidelines, policies and standards on environmental
matters;
• coordinate
and liaise with, stakeholders, within and outside Nigeria on matters of
environmental standards, regulations and enforcement;
• enforce
compliance with the provisions of international agreements, protocols,
conventions and treaties on the environment including climate change,
biodiversity conservation, desertification, forestry, oil and gas, chemicals,
hazardous wastes, ozone depletion, marine and wild life, pollution, sanitation
and such other environmental agreements as may from time to time come into
force;
• enforce
compliance with policies, standards, legislation and guidelines on water
quality, Environmental Health and Sanitation, including pollution abatement;
• enforce compliance
with guidelines, and legislation on sustainable management of the ecosystem,
biodiversity conservation and the development of Nigeria’s natural resources;
• enforce
compliance with any legislation on sound chemical management, safe use of
pesticides and disposal of spent packages thereof;
• enforce
compliance with regulations on the importation, exportation, production,
distribution, storage, sale, use, handling and disposal of hazardous chemicals
and waste, other than in the oil and gas sector;
• enforce
through compliance monitoring, the environmental regulations and standards on
noise, air, land, seas, oceans and other water bodies other than in the oil and
gas sector;
• ensure
that environmental projects funded by donor organizations and external support
agencies adhere to regulations in environmental safety and protection;
• enforce
environmental control measures through registration, licensing and permitting
Systems other than in the oil and gas sector;
• conduct
environmental audit and establish data bank on regulatory and enforcement
mechanisms of environmental standards other than in the oil and gas sector;
• create
public awareness and provide environmental education on sustainable
environmental management, promote private sector compliance with environmental
regulations other than in the oil and gas sector and publish general scientific
or other data resulting from the performance of its functions; and
• carry out
such activities as are necessary or expedient for the performance of its functions
Our Activities
Deriving from the Act establishing the National
Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and in line
with the Agency’s Mandate, Vision and Mission, NESREA programmes and activities
as categorized below is contributing to national socio-economic advancement and
expanding the country’s space in the global environmental arena:
NESREA Functional Strategies/Policy Thrust
Developing
and maintaining strategies for effective environmental compliance monitoring
and enforcement;
Establishing
a robust environmental information management system including database/databank;
Increasing
significantly the level of environmental awareness and creating partnerships
with relevant stakeholders at both national and global levels;
Carrying
out effective environmental compliance monitoring and enforcement programmes to
ensure the sustainable use of Nigeria’s natural resources, and to
protect citizens’ wellbeing and control air, land and water pollution; and
Coordinating
and promoting research and studies, in collaboration with public and private
agencies, institutions and organizations, on various aspects of
environmental degradation and pollution including technological transfer.
NESREA Strategy
As part of the NESREA strategies towards effective
implementation of her mandate, the Agency shall:
Ensure
inter-sectoral linkages between relevant bodies with respect to
development planning and decision making processes;
Adopt
a system of national accounting to internalize environmental costs;
Develop
environmental awareness programmes for nationwide implementation;
Embark
on continuous compliance monitoring and environmental enforcement programmes;
Promote
voluntary environmental compliance programmes;
Undertake
aggressive public awareness campaign and advocacy at all levels to properly
communicate the concept of voluntary compliance and should enlist the support
and participation of all key stakeholders including trade unions, professional
and business associations, civil society organisations, traditional,
natural and faith-based organizations;
Conduct
baseline studies on the state of the Nigerian environment and build a databank;
Monitor
the state of the Nigerian environment on a continuous basis and publish
regular reports to guide policy formulation and decision-making;
Promote
the development of local technologies to aid compliance to environmental
legislation;
Create
fora for dialogue, exchange of information and experience as well as build
consensus and partnerships among all stakeholders;
Develop
environmental education curricula in the area of compliance monitoring and
enforcement for integration into formal and informal education system;
Develop
new, and the review of existing obsolete environmental guidelines,
regulations and standards; and
Initiate
regular sector-specific consultative meetings for sharing of ideas and
experience, and better dissemination of information.
NESREA Missions
The mission of the Department is to ensure effective
mainstreaming of existing and emerging policy issues into the mandate of the
Agency through effective planning and public education including application of
information management system and the building of viable partnerships at all
levels.
The Department has three Divisions:
• Policy
Analysis and Research (PAR);
• Planning
and Information Management (PIM)
Mandate Includes
To
ensure effective mainstreaming of existing and emerging policy issues into the
mandate of the Agency;
To
ensure effective planning and develop appropriate compliance monitoring and
enforcement strategies in collaboration with relevant departments;
To
ensure adequate Stakeholder’s engagement for environmental governance in the
country;
To
ensure Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening for the Agency;
and
To
carry-out monitoring of the Agency’s programmes and activities for quality
assurance.
Meet
the Director General/CEO
Professor
Aliyu Jauro is the Director General/ Chief Executive Officer of the
National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, NESREA. He
assumed office on the 25th of March 2019.
Before
his appointment, Professor Jauro was Deputy Director at the National Centre for
Petroleum Research and Development at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
University, (A.T.B.U) Bauchi. He holds a Bachelor of Tech. Degree in Industrial
Chemistry from A.T.B.U Bauchi and MSc and PhD Degrees in Industrial Chemistry
from the same University. He joined the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University as a
Graduate Assistant in 1997 and rose through the ranks to Professor in
Industrial Chemistry in 2014.
Professor
Aliyu Jauro had won the German Academic Exchange Scholarship (DAAD) and the
European Association of Organic Geochemists (EAOG) Travel Grant in 2005.
He
is a fellow of the Chemical Society of Nigeria (CSN), as well as a member of
the Institute of Chartered Chemists of Nigeria, (MICCON) and member of Polymer
Institute of Nigeria (MPIN).
Top Management Team
The Federal Government in line with section 20 of the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, established the National
Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), a
parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Environment.
The Governing Board has the responsibility of policy making
and administration of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations
Enforcement Agency (NESREA). NESREA Management is empowered with the day to day
running of the Agency under the leadership of the Director General/Chief
Executive.
Supervising Authority
• Honourable
Minister of Environment
• Governing
Council
NESREA’s top management team are
What is Environmental Quality Control (EQC)?
All actions that help to induce efforts to ensure optimum
quality of environment to meet the conservation, social, economic, health, and
other requirements and goals of Nigeria.
In practical terms environmental quality control entails
surveys and assessments, standard setting, monitoring for air, water and land
quality, as well as biodiversity, and includes compliance monitoring of
non-point sources responsible for environmental degradation.
Thrust
To ensure continuous monitoring and assessment of the environment
so as to generate scientifically-based information for setting standards and
their enforcement, for a cleaner and healthier environment for Nigerians.
Goals
Ensuring Ecological/Environmental Integrity through:
appraising
environmental resources and assessing ecosystem health to facilitate
setting and enforcing regulatory standards and safety limits;
monitoring
ecosystem processes and trends to promptly identify adverse events and
initiate/enforce mitigative measures; and
facilitating
compliance by assessing and promoting technologies and best practices
for abating environmental degradation and ecosystem restoration.
Building Partnerships With Stakeholders
As part of the partnership strategy, NESREA has Zonal
Headquarters in the six Geo-political Zones, and proposes to have offices in
all the States of the Federation. For the Agency to effectively implement her
mandate at the state, she is reaching out to state governments for viable
partnerships.
This is one of the main objectives for the Agency’s courtesy
calls to the Executive Governors of various states of the federation. Such
courtesy visits provide a unique opportunity to explain to the Executive
Governors the activities of NESREA and discuss areas of collaboration and
partnerships between the State Government and NESREA. Presently NESREA has
presence in 22 states of the federation.
Building viable partnerships with State Governments makes
for a win-win situation for both NESREA and the State Governments. Such
partnerships will help to create more jobs, promote environmental awareness and
consciousness, and also ensure a cleaner and healthier environment for the
people of that state. Success stories from such partnerships have become models
that are being replicated across the federation.
Mandate Includes
Monitor
and enforce National Standards and Regulations on air and water quality;
Collaborate
with relevant local authorities and other stakeholders on compliance monitoring
of air and water quality;
Monitor
and control priority pollutants with adverse effect on ecosystems
integrity and human health;
Develop
environmental monitoring networks on Air Quality;
Compile
an emission database for compliance, monitoring and enforcement;
Identify
and promote appropriate technology alternatives including sound
practices to ensure environmental compliance;
Collaborate
with relevant stakeholders to develop new Technologies and Innovations for
environmental compliances;
Undertake,
coordinate, utilize and promote the expansion of research, experiments,
surveys and studies by public or private agencies, institutions and
organizations, concerning causes, effects, extent, prevention, reduction and
elimination of pollution that would promote compliance with environmental
standards and regulations;
Enforce
the provision of international environmental agreements in the green
environment, to which Nigeria is signatory, such as CITES, RAMSAR, Convention
on Biodiversity and access and benefit sharing and such other Agreements that
may from time to time come into force;
Enforce
in collaboration with relevant authorities, the National Guidelines on logging
and harvesting of timber products and the set standards for the export of
forest products and the import of forest industry equipment;
Enforce
control measures on the protection of vegetation against wild and
incidental forest fires and bush burning;
Enforce
in collaboration with relevant authorities, the National Bio-safety Policy and
Guidelines to ensure that Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are not
harmful to the environment and people;
Ensure
that relevant permits are obtained before GMO products are imported, marketed
or patented;
Enforce
the Regulations against the disposal of solid wastes in drainage channels;
Enforce
watershed management guidelines to protect water sources from flood, to
prevent erosion, deforestation, degradation and contamination of spring
sources;
Enforce
dam regulatory Guidelines for Dam break, sediment load and Dam water releases
to prevent downstream flood;
Enforce
the incorporation of Erosion and flood control measures at the designed stage
of major infrastructural / physical developments;
Enforce
the restriction of Sand dredging for beach nourishment from fragile shore areas
and within areas of long shore transport; and
In
collaboration with relevant agencies, enforce urban zoning regulations
including standardization of drainage infrastructure in ecological zones and
protection of marginal Lands.
Functional Strategies Include:
Developing
and maintaining strategic sectoral alliances;
Collaborative
approaches with state and local governments as well as traditional
institutions;
Forging
partnerships with civil society, bilateral and intergovernmental organisations;
Emphasising
science-based information and public awareness; and
Continuous
building of capacity.
EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY(EPR) PROGRAMME
The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programme is a
framework of action for a collaborative and partnership approach between
Government, Business and the larger society towards achieving a zero waste
society in the near future. The overall objective of the EPR programme is to
ensure a decreased in the total environmental impact from a product including
its packaging.
This is to be achieved by making the Producers of the
product responsible for the entire lifecycle of the product, and in particular,
the take-back, recycling and final disposal of the product and its packaging.
The Primary responsibility of EPR lies with the Producer, who makes designs and
marketing decisions.
The National Environmental Standards and Regulations
Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has commenced the registration of Operators in the
EPR Programme, including Producers, PRO, Recyclers and Collectors. Interested
operators are to Download the Registration Forms for the EPR Programme.
TYPE OF OPERATORS IN THE EPR
The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Programme will
have the following operators:
1. Producer:
the most responsive entity which may include but is not limited to the brand
owner, manufacturer, franchisee, assembler, filler, distributor, retailer or
first importer of the product who sells, offer for sale, or distributes the
product.
2. Producer
Responsibility Organization (PRO): a third party organization formed to enable
Producers to collectively manage or manage on their behalf, the mandatory take
back scheme or other Product Stewardship Programmes.
3. Recycler:
a person or organization who reprocesses waste for the original purpose or for
other purposes.
4. Collector:
a person or organization that operates a Centre or point where wastes are
collected or stored temporarily for the purpose of recycling.