Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
Government authorities, policymakers, educators, and environmental stakeholders have been urged to embrace environmental education (EE) as the fourth pillar of ecological governance, to tackle Nigeria’s worsening environmental challenges.
The Director of Planning, Research and Statistics of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Patterson Ogon, made the call while delivering the lead paper at the Environmental Education Summit organised by the Department of Adult and Non-Formal Education, Faculty of Education, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday.
Speaking on the theme: ‘Environmental Education as a Strategic Response to Nigeria’s Environmental Polycrisis: Stakeholder Responsibilities, Delivery Approaches and a Roadmap for Ecological Governance’, Ogon argued that environmental laws and enforcement alone cannot reverse the country’s ecological decline without a corresponding shift in public knowledge, values, and leadership orientation.
“At the centre of this rather complex and disturbing environmental crisis we face today is leadership. Sophistry is not scholarship. An environmentally uninformed leadership is a disaster waiting to happen,” he said.
According to him, environmental illiteracy remains one of the biggest obstacles to effective natural resource management, stressing the need for greater environmental consciousness among citizens and decision-makers.
Highlighting the scale of the crisis, Ogon cited official National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) data showing that more than 754,000 barrels of crude oil were spilled across Nigeria between 2006 and 2022, equivalent to about 3,769 tanker trucks, with Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta States among the worst affected.
He also referenced the 2023 Bayelsa Oil and Environmental Commission report, which found that Nigerian oil pipelines are about 565 times more likely to leak per 1,000 kilometres than those in the European Union.
Ogon added that an independent review of over 6,300 oil spills recorded between 2010 and 2015 showed remediation was carried out in only four per cent of cases, while 90 per cent lacked post-clean-up assessments.
Beyond oil pollution, Ogon identified desertification in northern Nigeria, gully erosion in the South-east, coastal flooding in Lagos and other coastal communities, and environmental degradation from illegal mining as pressing national concerns.
He recalled the 2021 Santa Barbara oil well blowout in Nembe, Bayelsa State, and recent gas-related incidents in Bille Kingdom, Rivers State, lamenting what he described as delayed responses to environmental disasters compared to international best practices.
Warning that Nigeria’s population could rise to between 400 million and 440 million by 2050, Ogon said sustainable environmental management must be treated as both a national security and development priority.
He unveiled the proposed Port Harcourt Framework for Environmental Education and Ecological Governance, which advocates a National Environmental Education Policy (2026–2035), stronger collaboration among environmental agencies, community-based learning and expanded university research on mangrove restoration, flood management and the Niger Delta’s blue economy.
Ogon urged governments at all levels to integrate environmental literacy into formal education, adult learning and leadership development.
“Investing in environmental education is not an academic exercise; it is an investment in healthier environments, stronger institutions, resilient communities and a sustainable national future,” he said.
It was observed that the summit brought together academics, government officials and environmental experts to explore practical strategies for strengthening environmental awareness and advancing sustainable development in Nigeria.