Nigerian Environment Agency Demands Impact Assessment for Telecoms Masts

APA - Lagos (Nigeria) The Director-General of Nigeria's National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Dr Ngeri Benebo, has said that telecommunication companies should conduct Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before installing their masts.

Benebo told journalists in Abuja on Friday that EIA was necessary to ensure that the environment and human beings were not adversely affected by such installations.

She said that the agency had received complaints from some members of the public that such masts were within residential areas and urged the affected companies to take adequate measures to mitigate any negative impact.

According to her, the agency will hold dialogue with stakeholders to educate them on the need to comply with the EIA requirement and that it will collaborate with the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to address some of the environmental issues arising from the location of masts in residential areas.

"The issue of the location of masts has become a top priority for NESREA because of the public outcry; we in the agency have decided that it should be a top issue to be discussed.

"In the past, what had been the topmost issue to the agency was industrial effluent discharge which had contributed negatively to climate change and pollution of water bodies," Benebo said.

According to her, it is the responsibility of the Nigerian government to ensure that the environment is conducive for human habitation.

She said that the agency would embark on awareness campaign this year to educate and enlighten the public on the importance of protecting the environment and that the agency would also hold a dialogue with violators to make them realize that what they were doing was wrong in order to chart a way forward together with the agency.

Posted to the site on 24th January 2009