Public participation in EIA: the case of West African Gas Pipeline and Tank Farm projects in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper assesses the extent to which public participation has been fully translated into practice the case of West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) and Tank Farm (TF) projects in Nigeria. The empirical basis for this paper is constituted by published environmental impact assessment (EIA) report for the WAGP and TF projects. In addition to this, face-to-face semi-structured interviews were used to corroborate whether provisions of public participation as documented in WAGP and TF projects' EIA report have been fully translated into practice. The lack of compliance noticed with TF project was not surprising as such, being an indigenous oil company, but our expectation is that WAGP project, which is not just a multinational project alone but also sponsored by the World Bank, should comprehensively serve as a yardstick for other projects in Nigeria, although the reverse is the case. The findings further show that institutional problems have prevented public participation from being translated into practice. These institutional problems arise from deep-seated economic and social factors.