The National Environmental Standards Regulatory and Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has urged lawyers to adhere to rules and principles guiding environmental laws in their practice, to promote the health and safety of the environment.

The Director-General of the agency, Prof. Aliyu Jauro, said this in a statement by the Chief Information Officer of the agency, Mrs. Amaka Ejiofor, while receiving a Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) team in Abuja.

The statement said that the team, from Gwagwalada Branch, paid the agency a courtesy visit to seek a strong collaboration with the NESREA on effective environmental law.
Jauro said that the dearth of environmental lawyers was a major setback in the war against environmental crimes in the country.

He said that lack of knowledge in the area of environmental law was a serious challenge, adding that many lawyers were not abreast with issues pertaining to the environment.
According to him, “even though we have a lot of legislative framework on environmental issues, many lawyers are not really taking environmental issues seriously.

“We had in the past organized workshops for judges and other judicial officers as part of advocacy on environmental law enforcement.

“The essence of the workshop is for the judges to know and understand the environmental principles and support the agency in ensuring that environmental laws are maintained in the country”.

Jauro said that the agency had developed 35 regulations in the environment sector, adding that the regulations were already being implemented to promote environmental governance and sustainability.

He, however, implored the lawyers to use public interest litigation to develop, enrich and promote the agency’s jurisprudence.

The Chairman of the NBA, Emmanuel Ogunjide, who led the team appreciated Jauro and his management for the numerous achievements recorded by the agency.

“I actually commend the DG and his management team. We are impressed. If not for the effort of the agency, the environment in the country will be in a worse situation,” he said.

He said that the aim of the visit was to seek the agency’s collaboration on capacity building in the area of environmental law.

“We want your experience and wealth of knowledge to rub off on us,” he added.