ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS IN NIGERIA: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE FAILING ROLE OF THE STATE IN FOREST MANAGEMENT SINCE THE LATE 1960S

摘要

Nigeria faces a number of environmental problems that jeopardize the well-being of individuals, populations, and even the whole country. One such problem is the increasing shrinking of the country's forests. Various efforts by the Nigerian state to arrest the problem and its negative environmental implications have apparently proved abortive. As a matter of urgency, institutional change necessarily loom larges in order to arrest the environmental crisis of deforestation in the country and to enable the renewable natural resources to generate benefits to meet human needs across generations. This study is therefore focused on a critical assessment of the failing role of the state in forest management in South-Western Nigeria since the late 1960s. South-Western Nigeria consists of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti States. The study argues that the environmental crisis of poor forest management in Nigeria stems essentially from the reluctance of the state to involve in decision making and implementation other stakeholders like forest users, forest dwelling communities, formal local governments, interested civil society organisations and actors. Using the approach of polycentric system of governance, the study suggests that forest administration is fundamentally a shared concern, which should be the common responsibility of all interested parties.