Nigerian Government Will Collaborate With Stakeholders To Ensure Environmental Sustainability, Says Minister

The Nigerian government has expressed its determination to collaborate with environmental stakeholders, particularly the Institute of Environmental Practitioners of Nigeria (IEPN), on environmental sustainability.
Malam Balarabe Lawal, Minister of Environment, stated this at the inauguration ceremony of the IEPN’s first Governing Council in Abuja.
Lawal, who was represented by the ministry’s Director of Pollution Control and Environmental Health, Dr. Olubunmi Olusanya, promised to unlock all environmental potentials and regulate environmental professionalism.
He said: “This institute is going to ensure we have professionalism in the system. We at the Federal Ministry of Environment are very particular about the quality of professionals who manage our environmental issues; therefore, we will work with the institute to ensure that we conserve our environment for sustainability while also unlocking all of Nigeria’s circular economy potential. Also from Environmental management, we can begin to maximise the profit there; there is a lot of profit in environmental management if properly done, so through this institute, I think we are going to achieve that.”
Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye President and Chairman of Governing Council of IEPN noted that the institute was saddled with the responsibility of regulating the activities of its members in the protection of the Nigerian environment.
Ezemonye, who is also the Vice Chancellor of Igbinedion University, said he will protect the environment by regulating the activities of its members to provide good governance, stewardship and environmental justice.
He stated: “The primary mandate of the council is to work together to protect the Nigerian environment, and we will do so by regulating the activities of our members to provide good governance, stewardship, and environmental justice, and when we do so by proper best practices and ethics, you can be confident that the Nigerian environment will be protected.
“We understand today that the symbiotic relationship between man and the environment seems to have collapsed; because every the environment is presented with different environmental challenges, not only affecting the matrices of land, water and air but also affecting man and that is the current predicament that the Nigerian environment is currently experiencing; so the emergence of this Institute of Environmental Practitioners of Nigeria is to bring sanity and sanctity in the practice of environmental protection, conservation, remediation and restoration to the Nigeria environment; that is our sole mandate and that is what we have resolved to do.”
He added that: “Today marks the beginning of a new era in Environmental Governance and Ecosystem Management in Nigeria. It was not an easy task going through the process of signing the IEPN Establishment Act into Law.
“Nothing signposts man’s apparent failure to protect Mother Nature than our apathy in combating climate change challenges.
“As a matter of fact, the symbiotic relationship between man and the environment seem to have collapsed. Every passing day presents daunting environmental challenges interfering with ecosystem matrices such as water, air, land and man,” he said.
The president reassured everyone that it is in everyone’s best interests to ensure the sustainability of Nigeria’s environment, stating that the council’s primary mandate is to protect the environment by regulating the activities of environment users in order to provide environmental justice.
He commended Nigeria’s Federal Government for enacting the IEPN Act.
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