Development implication of a functional ministry of environment

We as a people have looked at ministries of environments in a very myopic way. We tend to think it is just a ministry that ensures filths and garbage are managed; that our drainages are cleared and yards tidied. It is even more painful when you see actors in the environment industry, especially people whose job is to manage the environment ministry, have a version of the aforementioned ideas as the role of the ministry. When you truly comprehend what the environment represents and what it means to be the “Oga at the top” in a ministry of environment, then you would fathom out the level of influence these environmentalists have as growth agents and as champions of sustainable development in any society.

The Merriam- Webster dictionary defines environment as “the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates”. Therefore, as the chief manager of the environment in a given space, it is your duty to ensure that the surrounding and conditions of every living thing in that space is at the optimum. The development of a society on the other hand is measured using main development indicators which are broadly social, economic

and political, encompassing issues like employment, poverty, health, education, social cohesion, safety and security and good governance. A good environment is a direct catalyst for all of the indicators except education and good governance, in which case, good environment can still be argued as an indirect precursor for achieving them.

On employment, many ministries in Nigeria have used recruitment of personnel as a primal effort on what the ministers are supposed to do. They have employed thousands of redundant staff. We just employ and do not strategically create value around the people we employ. In fact, the extent of idle capacity could be seen by a simple visit to any local ministries; the lax attitude and the conversation these staff engage in lives a lasting impression. There is hardly anybody taking responsibilities. For example, who is the officer that supervises the street light on the expressway that passed through my hometown in Offa? If such office exists, can they present a report on the condition of the many streetlights along the expressway? Should you think it is not within the purview of the ministry of environment, it would be because you do not properly grasp the breadth and depth of the concept environment. Also, when the ministries of environment decide to do their jobs, issues like bioremediation, waste disposal and treatment, industrial and home cleaning, degradation of harmful substances, maintenance of street lights, air sanitation, noise screening and all aspects of environmental aesthetics and balance will become part of our lives and inform our culture towards environmental consciousness and sanity while gearing up innovations and economic gains.

Health is another measure of development in any society. Environmental health used to be a big thing in Nigeria. Growing up, I had a neighbour who was an environmental health officer at a time when the environmental health agency was proactive. When last did a “wole wole”, as we used to call environmental health officers then come to your homes to check the environmental nuances that occur therein? I am sure the environmental health officers are still on government payrolls. Why are they not ubiquitous as they used to be? What are the commissioners and ministers of environment in Nigeria doing about this? Who monitors the environmental health indices of public and popular institutions like abattoirs, hospitals, manufacturing and service industries? How well is the Lagos KAI (now LAGESC) doing in recent years? Why did we stop the LastSaturday-of-the-month’s environmental day and who still check if we observed it?

On safety and security, having talked about health, physical and emotional security is obviously a product of the environment. The environment either predispose or shield us of many of these hazards. The direct presence of hazards like the oil pollution in the Niger Delta or the ubiquitous presence of pure water sachets in Kano, in Lagos, and in our waterfronts, disturbs our security. It poisons the environment, thereby making the food cultivation difficult; disturbs the ecosystem and killing up the fauna and flora that makes up the productive machinery of our environment. These hazards also end up poisoning us by finding its way into our water, food and air. All these inadvertently contributes to our nonperforming life expectancy and standard of living indices. On security in terms of injuries, pollutions like noise and dust are here with us. They cause injury that might not be instantaneous but unarguably build up and lead to many health conditions like deafening, cancer and many more of those conditions that has become common in our daily lingua. The last one is the physical assaults. An environment could be in such a way that it encourages crime and accidents. A poorly lit road and dark alleys are breeding grounds for criminals and steaming pot for accidents to happen. It is the job of the ministries of environment through its many organs to make sure we are safe of all these problems.

Social cohesion will always come when we have food in our stomachs and don’t have to think of the basal needs of life like fresh air and water. If you doubt me, look at how your fire-spitting senator from the core north just gave a warm hug to that senator from the South-south that you always talk poorly about in your local barber’s shop. It is simply because their immediate environment is conducive. The same goes with good governance and education, the environment contains all the basic things that we need to function as a society. When those basic needs have been put in place, then we have good governance and your kids would have a prepared mind to accept education.

In final notes, to the minister and commissioners of environment, the dusty roads on the way to different corners in your home states is an environmental problem and should be a big concern for your ministry as much as it is for the works ministry. If you want to wake up a slumbering society like Nigeria, please prod the minister of environment! O di gba!!