Environmental Law I                                                                     Law 321 
                   
                                                                             
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                                   NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                                                    SCHOOL OF LAW 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                                                COURSE CODE: LAW 321 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                                     COURSE TITLE: ENVIRONMENTAL LAW I 
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            Environmental Law I                                       Law 321 
            COURSE CODE:                                           LAW 321 
             COURSE TITLE:                   ENVIRONMENTAL LAW I 
             COURSE WRITER/DEVELOPER:        MR.  ADEMOLA  A.  TAIWO, 
                                             MA/LLM, BL 
             COURSE EDITOR:                  PROFESOR L. ATSEGBUA 
             AG. DEAN:                       IFIDON OYAKHIROMEN, 
                                             PHD, BC 
             
             
             COURSE COORDINATOR:             MR. A. IGE, LLM. BL 
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                    Environmental Law I                                                                                 Law 321 
                                                              MODULE 1 
                     
                     
                                                                  UNIT 1 
                     
                                             CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW 
                     
                      Table of Contents 
                      1.0     Introduction 
                      2.0     Objectives 
                      3.0     Main Content 
                              3.1     Concept of Environmental Law 
                      4.0     Summary 
                      5.0     Conclusion 
                      6.0     Tutor-marked Assignment 
                      7.0     References/Further Readings 
                     
                     
                      1.0     Introduction 
                      In this unit, students/readers will be introduced to the basic concept of Environmental 
                      law. 
                      Governmental participation  by all tiers is inevitable if measures designed  to protect 
                      the  environment  is  to  be  effective.  At  this  juncture,  law  has  a  key  role    to  play 
                      regardless  of  technological  or  scientific  design  or  devices.  The  main  objective  of 
                      preservation,  conservation   and  maintenance  of  purify  environment  can  only  be 
                      achieved only if the law can be mobilized to operate in partnership with science and 
                      technology. 
                     
                     
                      2.0     Objectives 
                      At the end of this Unit, students and readers alike should be able to know: 
                      (i) The meaning of Concept of Environmental Law in Nigeria 
                      (ii)  Its dynamism and 
                      (iii) Development in the recent years. 
                     
                     
                      3.0     Main Topic 
                      3.1     The Concept of Environmental Law 
                      Environmental Law, no doubt, as a course, is the youngest course of study in any of 
                      the  Nigerian  Law  Faculty’s  Curriculum  in  any tertiary  institutions,  either  Colleges, 
                      Universities, or/College or University of Technology. The issue of environmental law 
                      world over cannot be discussed in isolation of the key concept known as Envir onment. 
                      This  word  is  the  main  core  of  this  study  and  law  comes  in  as  an  inevitable 
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                   Environmental Law I                                                                            Law 321 
                     concomitant  to  protect  the  environment  by  way  of  regulating  and  regularizing  it 
                     against  mis-use  and  abuse  by  the  human  elements  (who  are  the  anchors  and 
                     beneficiaries of environment). 
                    
                     Hitherto,  the  term  ‘concept’  means  ‘the  idea  underlying    a  class  of  things  or  the 
                     general notion of that thing in discussing the concept of environmental law, therefore, 
                     it  suppl y  means  the  general  ideas/principles,  rules  and  regulations,  policies  and 
                     programmes, the legal basis that lent credence to the need and eventual development 
                     of  what  we  known  today as  Environmental  Law.  The  essence  of  this  course  was 
                     described by one of the prominent legal luminaries at the Bar and Bench in well lucid 
                     way since its advent. It is no any other person than Honourable   Justice Belgore JSc. 
                     Where  he  was  expressing  his  joy  in  a  seminar  on  environmental  law  posited  as 
                     follows: 
                     “This gathering wi ll discuss the problem of the survival of this earth in relation to man 
                     made destructive things, nay, you are going to discuss the whole legal ramification of 
                     the environment in Nigeria, but you may discover you are thinking of life on the earth 
                     most of the time” 
                     In  a  similar  vein,  a  former  member  of  International  Court  of  Justice  (I.C.J), 
                     Honourable Prince Bola Ajibola corroborated  the afore said   opinion, that, it is the 
                     policy  of  the  administration  to  vigourously  pursue  the  protection  of  the  Nigerian 
                     environment  in order to preserve the quality of life of all citizens  and conserve  the 
                     resources for the benefit of future generations of Nigerians” 
                     The  concept  of environmental  issue has taken  a serious   dimension  worldwide  and 
                     Nigeria  is  not  excepted  in  the  new  horizon  of  not  mere  control,  protection  and 
                     management of environmental health problems but with legal policing. “The reason 
                     for this rapid paradigm shift in Nigeria in recent years may not be divorced from the 
                     dumping of harmful toxic waste materials in Koko in the Delta State (formerly part of 
                     Bendel  State)  in  June,  1988  and  the  need  to  redefine  our  hinterto  concept  of  the 
                     environment”. 
                     Although  in  1970,  the  environment  was  described  as  ‘the  issue  of  the  year 
                     internationally”  with  this assertion,  Nigerian  national  government  was  not  gingered 
                     into action until the event of widely published Koko saga in 1988 tagged “Koko Toxic 
                     Waste Dump”. As if this was  the only impetus awaited by the Nigerian government to 
                     spark  off  her  action.  Since  1988  national  focus  on  the  Nigerian  environment  and 
                     environmental  programmes  and  policies  cannot  be  over-emphasized.  This  fact  was 
                     supported  by late Chief F.R.A Williams  (SAN) when he stated that “prior to 1988, 
                     legal and administrative measures covered mainly protective and preventive measures 
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