AJAG Article

This paper examines the all-important role of the legislature in promoting environmental action and justice in Nigeria. Specifically, it interrogates and explores a new paradigm of legislative framework that draws from the African thought scheme as bedrock for mainstreaming indigenous perspectives on environmental usage into national consciousness and recognition. The study utilised data from secondary sources and the extant literature to articulate and re-affirm the need for reincorporating African knowledge perspectives on the environment as drivers for promoting environmental ethics and action in Nigeria. The findings revealed that no meaningful success can be achieved and/or sustained at the cradle of society without deliberate and concerted efforts at domesticating African indigenous paradigms on the environment through appropriate legislation that enhances the institutional capacities of local ideologies and practices of the Nigerian people. This is because, attainment of environmental justice in the African context would continue to be elusive until deliberate and practical steps are taken to harness most of these traditional and cultural perspectives into functional legal frameworks and policy options for achieving local best practices on the environment. The paper concludes that immediate and deliberate legislative actions are required to re-direct and refocus public policies on environment-related issues toward capturing indigenous knowledge perspectives shared by the various ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. It proposes a new paradigm of legislative action which prioritises African thought scheme as the basis for policy action intended to achieve environmental justice and best practices in the present age.

Bridging Cultures and Laws: Harnessing African Knowledge Perspectives for Sustainable Environmental Action and Justice in Nigeria*, 2025, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 1-12. PDF