FCT Environmental Courts: Advocacy Group Pushes Wike for Urgent Judicial Action on Abuja’s Sanitation Crisis

By: Abudu Olalekan

Environmental advocacy group CERADF calls on FCT Minister Nyesom Wike to reactivate environmental courts as waste crisis worsens across Abuja neighborhoods.

Something’s got to give in Abuja. The situation is getting out of hand.

An environmental advocacy group just sent a strongly-worded letter to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, and they’re not asking nicely anymore. The CRUX Environmental Rights, Advocacy and Development Foundation – you can call them CERADF – wants environmental courts and tribunals back in business across the Federal Capital Territory. Like, yesterday.

The formal letter landed on the minister’s desk with a clear title: “Request for the Reactivation of Environmental Courts and Tribunals in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.” No beating around the bush there.

But let’s back up a bit. Why all the fuss?

Well, turns out Nigeria’s capital city has a serious environmental problem. And the current systems in place? They’re basically failing. The Abuja Environmental Protection Board has been around since 1997 – that’s over two decades of environmental oversight. In May 2022, they even rolled out mobile courts to deal with people breaking environmental laws. Sounds like progress, right?

Wrong.

CERADF says these mobile courts haven’t been nearly enough to handle what’s happening on ground. The organisation didn’t just make assumptions from their office either. They actually went out there and saw things firsthand.

Their field monitoring teams covered serious ground – Gwarinpa, Utako, Mpape, Kubwa, Nyanya, Karu, Lugbe, Kuje, Apo Mechanic Village. They even checked out parts of the Central Business District. What did they find? A mess. Literally.

Waste piling up everywhere. Poor sanitation that’ll make your stomach turn. It’s the kind of scene that makes you wonder how things got this bad in the first place.

“The CRUX Environmental Rights, Advocacy and Development Foundation respectfully presents this formal request for the reactivation and strengthening of dedicated Environmental Courts and Tribunals within the Federal Capital Territory,” the letter stated in typical NGO fashion.

But here’s what they really want. A central Environmental Court sitting right within the High Court of the FCT. Plus Environmental Tribunals spread across all six Area Councils. That’s the ask.

The consequences of doing nothing are already showing up. AEPB and waste management agencies are completely swamped – they cant keep up anymore. Drainages are blocked, which means flooding happens every time it rains. And the rodents? Don’t even get started on the rodent problem. Public health risks are climbing by the day.

Then there’s the pollution and those offensive smells you can’t escape in certain areas. But perhaps what hurts most is how all this makes Abuja look. This is supposed to be Nigeria’s administrative and diplomatic capital. Foreign ambassadors work here. International conferences happen here. Yet some neighborhoods look like they’ve been forgotten entirely.

“These conditions have resulted in overburdened AEPB and waste-management agencies, blocked drainages and recurrent flooding, increased rodent infestation and heightened public-health risks,” CERADF noted in their assessment.

The weak enforcement situation isn’t helping either. Court processes drag on forever. Penalties aren’t tough enough to make violators think twice. Someone dumps waste illegally today, pays a small fine, then goes right back to doing the same thing tomorrow.

Sure, there are public sensitisation campaigns running. People are being told to dispose waste properly and keep their environment clean. That’s all well and good. But CERADF insists these awareness efforts wont achieve much without proper judicial backing.

“While public sensitisation efforts are ongoing, these cannot succeed without a dedicated judicial framework that would ensure speedy trials, consistent application of environmental laws, and firm sanctions for violators,” the organisation argued.

They didn’t just complain and leave. CERADF came prepared with recommendations, including working closely with the Chief Judge of the High Court of the FCT and other relevant stakeholders.

Now Minister Wike has this request sitting on his desk. What happens next could determine whether Abuja cleans up its act or continues sliding into environmental chaos. The advocacy group has spoken. The ball is now firmly in the minister’s court.