This paper X-rays the current performance status of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) practice in some major urban areas, like Nnewi, Onitsha, and Ekwulobia in Anambra State, Nigeria. The paper identifies improper and fraudulent EIA practices and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) documents respectively as the bane of continued environmental land degradation and soil erosion, particularly gully erosion, in the study areas. A number of survey design methods were applied to generate information for the study. Questionnaires, Focused Group Discussions (FGDs), and oral interviews were the research instruments used for the study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to analyze the data. Findings revealed that about 83%, 67% and 72% of on-going sampled construction projects in Nnewi, Onitsha, and Ekwulobia respectively that required EIA to be done before commencement were not done. The study revealed that there is a significant difference between EIA policy awareness and EIA policy implementation by developers in the three towns surveyed. In places where the EIA exercises were done, there was evidence that they were haphazardly executed. Further findings revealed some factors that militate against the application of EIA to development projects. These include: waste of time (78%); makes the project more expensive (62%); lack of adequate training on how to carry out an EIA exercise and prepare EIS report (69%). The paper recommends on-going EIA training workshops for professionals in the building industry and other stakeholders, including developers and contractors Also, best practices of EIA procedure should be enforce, as a matter of imperative, in all developmental projects with palpable environmental footprints by the responsible agencies in order to halt further degradation in the State.
Nnodu et al. (Tue,) studied this question.