Strengthening Environmental Audit Guidelines of Nigeria

The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), is an Agency to the Federal Ministry of Environment charged with the responsibility of enforcing all environmental regulation in the country. The Agency also conducts and reviews environmental audits to assess the compliance status of industries. The country has existing audit guidelines to assist consultants in the audit process. However, NESREA identifies few gaps in the current guidelines which hinder the Agency in achieving informed decision-making.

With an objective to have an effective and efficient environmental audits system, NESREA has collaborated with CSE in reviewing the existing audit guidelines and assisting them in developing comprehensive guidelines which will not only involve assessment of compliance status but will also reflect identification of areas for improvement in the current environmental practices. The guidelines also aim to be more data oriented which is a major missing component in the existing system.

This 2-day consultation meet is the first step in this direction. The meeting will include in-depth discussion on various components of the existing system and what modifications are required to strengthen them. The discussion will also involve sector-specific audit protocols to make the audit process convenient.

For more information, you may contact 

Ms. Ishita Garg
Programme Manager-Industrial Pollution, CSE
Email: ishita.garg@cseindia.org