Nigeria: Environment

Nigeria presented 65 investment projects worth about US$78.5 billion to investors at the IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok on 14 October 2026. That figure is what the projects need, not money already committed, and a project that looks fundable in a pitch deck is not yet ready to build. Before any of these projects can lawfully break ground, it has to clear Nigeria’s environmental rules: an environmental impact assessment (EIA) under the EIA Act where the project is likely to significantly affect the environment, approval of that assessment, and the permits NESREA and state agencies enforce.

Nigeria's energy industry is at the intersection of massive economic aspirations and significant environmental threats. The Niger Delta has been subjected to decades of oil extraction, which have left it mired in some of the world's worst pollution crises, but the individual corporate directors have escaped liability for the devastation that their companies wreak on the environment.

When pollution damages Nigerian communities, who bears legal responsibility and what remedies are available? This analysis examines how Nigerian courts establish environmental liability, exploring statutory frameworks like the Oil Pipelines Act, tort law principles, and the evolving intersection of environmental harm with constitutional human rights protections.