APPRAISING THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR ENHANCING PUBLIC ACCESS TO ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Environmental justice refers to the situation where citizens of a country have access to the legal mechanisms to obtain effective remedies for the violation of their environmental rights. This is the situation that obtains almost everywhere in the global village for the reason that the right to a safe and healthy environment has become a fundamental right that must be protected if mankind must remain on the surface of the earth. For this right to inure in citizens of a country there must be in existence, adequate legal framework in the form of laws including statutes and judicial decisions on the basis of which claims can be made in respect thereof. It is not certain that the existing laws in Nigeria provide this comfort to victims of environmental infractions. It is for this reason that this paper examines the adequacy of the legal framework for enhancing public access to environmental justice in Nigeria. The findings made showed that the legal framework for enhancing access to environmental justice in Nigeria is not adequate and this does not augur well for victims of environmental infractions in Nigeria. The paper then recommended amendment of the existing laws or the enactment of a new law to remedy the situation.