The federal government has been advised to persist in regularizing the activities of its agencies to eliminate role duplication and enhance efficiency.
This recommendation was made on Monday during the inauguration of Dr. Innocent Bariate as the new Director General of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA).
During the event, NESREA’s Director of Inspection and Enforcement, Abdulsalam Isa, highlighted several challenges facing the agency, including employee welfare and budget constraints. He specifically noted the encroachment of the Ministry of Environment and overlapping functions with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Isa emphasized, “Currently, NESREA is grappling with multiple challenges that hinder compliance monitoring and enforcement activities. These include insufficient funding, which hampers the agency’s operational capacity. Difficulty in accessing government funds is a significant obstacle to effective regulation, leading to inadequate compliance monitoring and enforcement of standards.”
He further added, “To achieve global standards, NESREA’s financial support needs to transition from short-term to long-term funding to foster growth and development. Securing strategic and sustained funding is crucial for compliance monitoring, enforcement, and awareness creation.”
Isa also expressed concerns about the agency’s inadequate office infrastructure, lack of a field office in the Federal Capital Territory, and insufficient staff salaries and welfare. He noted that NESREA’s compensation has remained stagnant since 2010, falling short compared to other environmental protection agencies globally and similar local agencies like the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA).
Newly appointed Director General Dr. Innocent Bariate emphasized the need for unity and collaboration within the agency to achieve its mandate. “We must work together to pursue our mandate and vision. You can count on me, but I need to work with each one of you,” Bariate stated. He also committed to improving staff welfare and collaborating with partners and other agencies to fulfill NESREA’s objectives.
