Coalition Partners KEPA on Kaduna Environment

Kaduna, North-West, NIGERIA
To galvanize effort towards salvaging the deteriorating Kaduna environment, the Network of Civil Society in Environment (NCSE) during the week had a meeting with Kaduna State Environmental Protection Authority (KEPA).
The meeting was aimed at creating an entry point for engagement with KEPA to support the agency in addressing the environmental issues in the state yielded fruitful results.
In her remarks, Executive Director of Bridge that Gap Initiative, Gloria Bulus who led the team noted that the coalition desires to work hand in hand with KEPA, to come up with solutions in terms of environmental actions.
According to Bulus “The people are always at the receiving end when it comes to issues relating to environment hence we are here so we could know where we can come in or how we could be of help; adding that there are lots of environmental issues ranging from noise, air pollution, and waste disposal among others which have created serious impact on the environment and need to be addressed.”
The Acting Director, Monitoring, Evaluation and Compliance KEPA, Mallam Usman Shehu who represented the General Manager said “KEPA as an organization cannot do everything relating to environment alone, except with the help of NGOs and Civil Society groups like NCSE, so we can reach our goal.
He said KEPA considers such NGOs and CSOs as “a life-support machine because there are serious issues going on in the state and we can not relent on our operations. The mandate is very much and we are expected to meet virtually all, since we are a regulating body.”
“Therefore, we need the support of NGOs/CSOs to help meet these needs either through campaign, awareness and orientation.

We have introduced new strategies like the use of life line, mobile court and others but we cannot apply it now unless the people are aware of it. Also, our environmental law to that effect is currently under review.
“I am happy to have this collaboration with NCSE. The best way to work is sensitization which usually comes from NGO and we also need members of the society to help us know the kind of environmental violation that is going on in the state”.
The Network of Civil Society in Environment was convened by the Africa Media Development Foundation and Bridge that Gap Initiative with a desire to bring together stakeholders working on environment to synergize towards achieving success in pushing for issues affecting the environment in Kaduna state.