This doctoral research examines the Effectiveness of the Legal and Regulatory Framework for Environmental Protection in Nigeria: A Study of the Upstream Petroleum Industry (UPI). The central aim of this doctoral research is to appraise the effectiveness of the existing legal and regulatory framework for environmental protection in Nigeria's upstream petroleum industry (UPI). The study explored qualitative, doctrinal, black letter and comparative methodology. However, data collection was conducted through the online social constructivist email interview approach because it allowed the researcher the opportunity to ask in-depth questions on the one hand and the respondents leverage to express his or her experiences and opinions about the subject under investigation.RO1: To examine the relevance of the existing legal and regulatory frameworks for environmental protection in Nigeria UPI. RO2: To unravel the problems that impact the effectiveness of the current legal framework for regulating environmental protection in the UPI. RO3: To assess the political influences hindering the effective enforcement of environmental regulatory laws in UPI. RO4: To examine the role of community stakeholders in enforcing existing environmental regulatory laws in the UPI. RO5: To make suggestive recommendations on the possible ways of improving existing legal and regulatory frameworks for building an environmentally friendly community in the UPI.Critical in the gaps identified in the literature was that past research had paid weak attention to the effectiveness of legal and regulatory frameworks for protecting environmental pollution in the UPI using a reflexive qualitative interpretivism approach. The theoretical lenses adopted in this work are policy implementation theories (institutional and systems theories) to help the researcher understand the extent to which these regulatory frameworks and their compliance to policies and how institutional and systems forces such as political, social, and economic factors, especially in a multi-ethnic and religious system like Nigeria had impacted the effectiveness of these frameworks over the years. The study found that current L&R Frameworks are not holistically relevant for managing environmental protection because it is believed to be dated and not fit and proper for managing the ever-increasing issues of environmental pollution like militancy, erosion, flooding, oil spillage, gas flaring and acid rain which has constantly polluted farmlands, fishponds, destruction of human lives and properties, aquatic as well as biodiversity.
| Date of Award | 6 Jun 2024 |
|---|
| Original language | English |
|---|
| Supervisor | George Ndi (Main Supervisor) & Omo Oyeniyi Abe (Co-Supervisor) |
|---|