Environmental Issues

Several Nigerian groups have campaigned actively, but with little success, to compel the government and major oil companies to introduce environmental safeguards. In 1988 the government created the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) to address problems of desertification, oil pollution, and land degradation, but the FEPA has had only a minor impact. In 1995 the weak and fragmented environmental movement was dealt a sharp blow when the government executed Ken Saro-Wiwa, a well-known writer who struggled to stop environmental degradation in the Niger Delta. In other parts of the country, farmers have practiced environmental protection for centuries. Their techniques include planting several different crops in a single field at once to cover the ground more evenly and thereby reduce erosion and increase fertility; planting and maintaining farmland trees and hedgerows to reduce erosion; applying manure to farmland to maintain soil fertility; and, in certain areas such as the Jos Plateau, terracing steep slopes.

"Nigeria." Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2001. © 1993-2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.