BALANCING ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS IN NIGERIA: IS THE RIGHT TO A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT BEING COMPROMISED?

Abstract

Economic development is concerned with process and activities carried out to improve the economic well being and quality of life for a community of men, while environmental health is concerned with process and activities undertaken to establish good relationships between man and his surroundings for his good health and sustenance on earth. The two must progress together for development of any human community to be sustainable, as the two are interdependent. Nigeria`s economy is largely driven by oil and gas production. Following the country`s 1956 discovery of oil in commercial quantity, she hurriedly developed the discovered oil fields, leading to quick export of the products to Europe by 1970. The country, then, started adopting various economic strategies to leverage oil exports for national development. However, the environmental impact of oil and gas production has not received comparable attention. While social amenities and development of infrastructures have gained tremendous prominence as a result of oil production boom, environmental protection efforts have been largely overlooked. This paper examined the balance between Nigeria`s economic growth initiatives and environmental safeguards. The findings indicated that environmental protection has been overshadowed by economic development priorities. A doctrinal legal research method was adopted, incorporating both primary and secondary information sources.