Environmental Impact Assessment processes should be integrated into scientific and engineering work instead of being regarded simply as a regulatory requirement, according to a report by BusinessDay Nigeria.
The report presents the EIA as a practical tool for identifying environmental risks. Its central argument is that the assessment process should have a technical function, rather than being approached only as a compliance exercise.
That distinction affects how an assessment is understood: as part of the work of examining environmental risks, not merely as a procedural requirement. On the evidence available, the report does not provide details about particular projects, industries or environmental risks to which the argument applies.
The supplied account also does not identify who made the call, which authorities or organisations were being addressed, or whether any changes to existing assessment practices were proposed. It gives no timetable, enforcement plan or examples of projects where an EIA was allegedly treated as a formality.
What is clear from the report is the emphasis on practical use. It says environmental assessments should operate as scientific and engineering instruments capable of identifying risks, while rejecting an approach that reduces them to regulatory paperwork.