1. Introduction
The planning value of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) as a tool for determining and appraising the environmental feasibility of proposed development projects is widely recognised [
1,
2,
3]. Since its inception in the United States, the EIA process comprises many steps, including the identification, prediction, evaluation, and mitigation of positive and negative impacts from proposed projects prior to their implementation [
2,
3,
4]. An EIA is an important mechanism to describe the receiving environments, the assessment of alternatives associated with the proposed projects and their sites, and the selection of appropriate mitigation measures while interested and affected stakeholders are given an opportunity for involvement, consultation, and collaboration. Thus, the process brings sustainability considerations into the evaluation of proposed projects, the prime goal being to ensure that the receiving environments are not negatively affected and the threats to human health are avoided as much as possible. Despite the adoption of EIAs in many countries, research has shown that their effectiveness is constrained by several factors, especially in developing countries. According to Kamijo and Huang [
5], EIAs in developing countries are constrained by many factors, such as the poor identification of anticipated impacts and the evaluation their magnitude and significance, as well as failure to design appropriate mitigation measures and involve affected stakeholders in a timely and meaningful manner. Even more problematic is the quality of EIA reports (EIARs), which give account of how the various stages of the process were managed and documented, thus raising questions on the completeness and comprehensiveness of such documents.
The inferior quality of EIARs in developing countries is one of the constraints that has affected national EIA systems over many years [
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11]. In many developing countries, the poor quality of EIA documentation has been attributed to inadequate organisational resources, lack of experience and relevant information on international best practices, as well as weaknesses around impact analyses and identification as well as mitigation planning [
12,
13,
14]. Hence, the quality of EIARs is one of the key factors towards realising EIA effectiveness [
5,
11,
14]. According to Caro and Toro [
15], the quality of EIARs hinges on the extent to which they provide relevant information, not only to the interested and affected stakeholders, but also to regulatory authorities whose key responsibility is to ensure maximum enforcement and compliance with existing legal and regulatory requirements and international best practices.
In the evaluation of EIARs, regulators would like to ascertain that proposed projects are assessed from a life cycle perspective and the suggested mitigation measures are appropriate to the scale and significance of predicted environmental impacts, thus maximising positive impacts while preventing or reducing the intensity of negative impacts [
3]. Thus, many studies have been conducted to review EIAR quality in developing countries such as Pakistan [
8], Tanzania and Kenya [
16], and Zimbabwe [
17]. In addition, South Africa has witnessed a proliferation of research with mixed results on the quality of EIARs prepared for proposed projects in different sectors of the national economy [
18,
19,
20]. For instance, a 2008 study conducted in South Africa on the quality of EIARs in the mining industry indicated that 85% out of the 20 reports assessed were of a satisfactory quality, and generally, they did comply with international best practices [
21]. Sections of the reports that were based on the presentational and descriptive tasks were assigned comparatively higher quality grades than the tasks that required analyses of impact magnitude and the identification of project and site alternatives [
21]. On the other hand, some studies found that the analytical review areas such as impact assessment actually performed relatively superior than it was the case with the descriptive sections in the EIARs compiled for the licensing of tourism projects in one of the biggest biosphere reserves in South Africa (i.e., the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve) [
22]; thus, this differed from the results obtained by related studies in South Africa [
23,
24,
25] and abroad [
26,
27,
28].
The aforementioned studies show that the quality of EIARs is very important for informing various stakeholders who play an important role in the EIA process, especially on the key priority issues and significant impacts that require proper mitigation before projects can be authorised for construction and operation. Therefore, increasing our knowledge of EIAR quality is important because it can lead to the identification and analysis of strengths and weaknesses, which can provide key information towards improving EIA practice, thus enabling regulatory authorities to make informed and better decisions based on submitted EIA applications as to whether they are adequate and satisfactory for environmental authorisation [
21,
26]. Moreover, an EIAR is the final document during the EIA process; therefore, it should provide all the environmental information necessary for the impact assessment of proposed projects, thus informing joint decision-making in their sustainability considerations [
3]. In view of the aforementioned rationale and justification for studies of this nature, this study was based on the evaluation of EIAR quality for proposed mobile telecommunications projects in the Plateau State of Nigeria; a country that has witnessed limited research on EIAR quality. Apart from the quality evaluation, the strengths and weaknesses in the reports were identified, consequently yielding important insights to the effectiveness of the EIA reporting processes in the study area. It was also imperative to determine whether the quality of EIARs was improving between the selected study periods, namely, Period 1 (between 2006 and 2012) and Period 2 (between 2014 and 2015). However, before the research methodology is explained, it is imperative to provide an overview of EIA legislation and regulation in Nigeria.
1.1. Overview of EIA Legislation and Regulation in Nigeria
The process of institutionalizing EIA in Nigeria dates to the year 1975. Their EIA process emerged from the establishment of the “Division of Urban Development and Environment” within the Federal Ministry of Economic Development [
29,
30,
31]. However, in the beginning, more attention was focused on the environmental regulation of the impacts of the petroleum industry, because it was believed that this sector needed close environmental monitoring. At that time, most environmental legislation was in the form of pollution reduction measures that responded to local problems within the petroleum industry [
30,
31,
32]. Consequently, many industrial regulations were established under the Petroleum Act (Act No. 51 of 1969) [
33] to control the exploration of petroleum in Nigeria, and also to regulate the associated pollution aspects [
34,
35,
36]. The application of EIA tools in all major projects of Nigeria was initiated in 1987 and was given a legal mandate in 1992 [
30,
31]. This was in response to the illegal dumping of about 3880 tons of hazardous toxic wastes, containing polychlorobiphenyls [
37,
38]. The guilty party in the dumping of such hazardous toxic wastes included the Italian vessel in the coastal town of Koko in Bendel State in 1987 [
36,
37,
38]. The Federal Government of Nigeria responded by promulgating the Harmful Wastes Decree 42 of 1988 [
36,
37,
38]. Embedded in this decree was a legal framework for the effective monitoring and control of the disposal of toxic and hazardous wastes in any part of Nigeria [
38,
39]. This decree also facilitated the establishment of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) through Decree 58 of 1988 [
40]. The overall mandate of this Agency was to protect and develop precautionary environmental measures in Nigeria. In translating this mandate into action, a national policy called the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (Act No. 86 of 1992) was gazetted [
36,
37,
40]. FEPA was then transferred and absorbed into the Federal Ministry of the Environment (FMENV). Subsequently, all States and Local Councils were required to establish environmental regulatory bodies to maintain environmental sustainability [
40]. However, the focus of the state environmental protection agencies was on the collection of solid wastes and their disposal in the peri-urban areas of cities which are susceptible to the illegal dumping of wastes [
41].
Given all these institutional and legal processes, Nigeria currently has three independent EIA regulations: the Petroleum Act of 1969, the Town and Country Planning Decree 88 of 1992, and the EIA Decree 86 of 1992 [
30,
39]. Inevitably, the development of each of these EIA systems in Nigeria is at a different stage of evolution [
30,
35,
39]. The Petroleum Act and the EIA Decree have developed complex guidelines and legislation but are rated very low in terms of effective implementation and practice [
12], while the Town and Country Planning Decree has not developed satisfactorily [
30]. Moreover, the EIA Decree No. 86 of 1992 [
30,
39] has not been reviewed since its emergence, and the Federal Ministry of the Environment remains the only EIA regulatory authority that can conduct EIAs in Nigeria [
30]. Therefore, attention concerning the development of key guidelines has been shifted to EIA Decree No. 86 of 1992 [
42], with less interest towards the remaining two EIA systems.
The rationale for establishing the first EIA system in Nigeria was provided in the Petroleum Act (1969), which was aimed to address local environmental problems as well as reducing pollution in the petroleum industry [
39]. Addressing issues relating to regional planning and development control for urbanization led to the enactment of the Town and Country Planning Decree of 1992 [
43]. On the other hand, the EIA Decree 86 of 1992 aimed to cater to proposed development actions for most economic sectors at a national level [
30]. The decree provided 19 major groups of such projects under the mandatory study activities, which is a list of projects that require compulsory EIA before authorization. The group of projects under the mandatory list for EIA in Nigeria include agriculture, airports, drainage and irrigation, land reclamation, forestry, housing, industry, infrastructure, and ports. Other types of projects in the mandatory schedule are mining, petroleum, power generation, transmission, quarries, railways, transportation, waste treatment and disposal, water supply, fisheries, resorts, and recreational developments [
42]. Thus, Category 1 projects include all projects that must undergo full EIAs before they can be authorized for construction and implementation or operations. Some examples of project types under Category 1 include power generation, mining, quarries, petroleum, water supply, and waste management; Category 2 projects involve the same projects as in projects under Category 1, but such projects in Category 2 are smaller in size as compared with projects in Category 1. The decree also made it clear that projects in Category 2 can undergo full EIAs when they are due to be sited in environmentally sensitive locations; otherwise, no mandatory EIA is required before environmental clearance is issued. Examples of such projects under Category 2 include mini-hydro developments and any small-scale developments. Category 3 projects comprise institutional, health, family planning, nutritional, and educational action proposals, especially when physical buildings are involved.
In all of the aforementioned categories of proposed projects (i.e., Category 1, 2; and 3), projects involving telecommunication infrastructure, especially mobile base transceiver stations (BTSs), are not specifically mentioned in the EIA mandatory study activities in Decree No. 86 of 1992 [
42]. However, these projects are listed under Category 2 in the Checklist for the category of ‘telecommunication facilities’ in the EIA Procedural-Guideline of 1995 [
44]. Several federal ministries and government agencies have enacted laws and regulatory guidelines for their monitoring and evaluation, as shown in
Table 1. In particular, the statutory requirements for the development and maintenance of telecommunications infrastructure in Nigeria are based on the (1) Guidelines on Technical Specifications for the Installations of Masts and Towers [
45] and (2) National Environmental (Standards for telecommunications and broadcast facilities) regulations [
46,
47]. According to Okong and Ochela [
48], these guidelines are applied to enforce precautionary measures for protecting human health, and the promotion of safety and the wellbeing of citizens living near mobile telecommunication base stations (i.e., BTSs). Regardless of these regulatory provisions, not much is known on how well these projects are being assessed in Nigeria and how they are accounted for in terms of the suitability of selected sites where they are constructed. Therefore, one way to gauge this aspect is by evaluating the quality of EIARs compiled for environmental authorization. Research on the quality of EIARs seeks to establish the degree of conformance or non-conformance with existing legal and regulatory provisions, procedural compliance, adherence to international best practices, and the completeness of information presented in such reports. Therefore, researching this kind of problem will shed light on the extent to which existing guidelines are being complied with, thus determining areas of legal and regulatory conformance or non-conformance, but also adherence to good practices and the incidence of malpractices [
26,
49,
50].
Previous studies have expressed numerous shortfalls in Nigerian EIA practice, sometimes with negative implications for the preparation and compilation of EIARs. For instance, the problem of inadequate and weak public participation during the scoping phase of environmental assessments leads to the poorer documentation of environmental and socio-economic issues in the generated reports [
30]. Consequently, such reports are criticized for being inaccurate, imprecise, and unclear [
54]. The extent of this problem is increased by the point that public comments related to environmental assessments in Nigeria are needed only at the stage of reviewing [
55]; a national practice that is contrary to international best practices which require public inputs in the early stages of the EIA process [
3]. Additionally, the lack of experienced EIA consultants and approval authorities is another shortcoming which leads to the generation of EIARs with an unsatisfactory quality [
30,
55]. Other shortfalls are linked to the excessive bureaucracy and, sometimes, the duplication of duties between the Federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, thus negatively affecting set objectives of the EIA process [
35,
56]. These challenges not only undermine existing EIA laws, but also the attainment of long-term environmental sustainability. This study focused on the evaluation of EIAR quality for projects dealing with the construction of mobile telecommunications; therefore, it is necessary to summarise major developments in the relevant sector.
1.2. An Overview of the Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM) and Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs)
The global system of mobile telecommunication (GSM) was initially a European standard for telephony and was introduced in 1992 [
57]. However, it is now widely used around the globe [
48]. Since its development in 1992, the telecommunication industry has achieved rapid growth in all countries [
58]. For example, while the world population was estimated to be nearly 7.676 billion around 2019 [
59], the total number of mobile subscribers grew from 2.5 billion in 2006 [
60] to 5.112 billion in 2019 [
59]. Moreover, in 2018, the industry provided 14 million jobs with an additional 17 million indirect jobs globally [
58]. The increased adoption of GSM technologies arises from their relevance and enhancement of human activities such as in the spheres of transportation, agriculture, banking, security, disaster risk management, and health care services, amongst others. While recognising the positive economic and social impacts associated with the GSM and its BTS infrastructure, a number of negative impacts have been identified, including declines in bee populations [
61,
62], the development of cancer cells in people and animals, and many other health challenges which have emerged [
63].
Nigeria adopted the use of GSM technology in 1999 when the country completed a de-regularisation exercise on the telecommunication sector which had started as early as 1992 [
64,
65]. It was in August 2001 that the first call using the GSM technology was made in Nigeria, and this completely changed the manner in which the telecommunication sector was managed and operated [
66]. By May 1999, there were only 450,000 telephone lines for an approximate population of 120 million people, but during the 1999–2007 period, the number of subscribers had risen to 38 million [
64,
65]. In addition, by the end of 2018, the number of GSM subscribers had once again increased to 174 million [
67]. Furthermore, it is estimated that there are 298 million GSM subscribers in Nigeria who are served by 53,000 BTSs. Moreover, the contribution of the telecommunication industry to the national economy has witnessed continuous growth, ranging from 7.40% in 2013 to 10.11% in 2019 [
68]. However, this accelerated development in the telecommunication sector of Nigeria has attracted the demand for and use of products and accessories such as mobile phones, iPads, and computers [
69]. As a result, large quantities of electronic waste (1.1 million tons) are generated annually in the country [
70,
71]. Finally, some studies have confirmed health challenges such as cancer, headaches, fatigue, dizziness, sleep disorders, memory loss, skin itching, anxiety, and poor eyesight in people living close to BTS infrastructure [
71,
72,
73].
4. Discussion
The results derived from the present research indicated the quality of EIARs prepared for projects involving the development of mobile telecommunications infrastructure in the different areas of Plateau State (Nigeria). This was carried out by paying attention to five different review areas and their associated review categories and sub-categories. Based on the results generated by the study, only two review areas, namely, RA 1.0 (Description of facilities and project sites) and RA 5.0 (Communication of results), were found to be generally in line with the legislative and regulatory requirements for environmental assessments and best EIA practices for the development of telecommunication infrastructure in Nigeria. The remaining three review categories (RA 2.0, RA 3.0, and RA 4.0) were grossly unsatisfactory in terms of their quality. In providing an overview on the EIA system in Nigeria, an earlier study found that the quality of EIARs is very poor and is reflective of limited environmental assessment skills in this country, as well as the low competence of EIA consultants who compile such reports and the regulatory authorities who approve them [
30]. What follows is a discussion of the findings stemming from the present research, starting with RA 1.0 (Description of facilities and project sites) and RA 5.0 (Communication of results). Thereafter, others review areas are given attention as well.
Providing an adequate description of planned development actions and associated project sites is important for all stakeholders involved in the EIA process in order to understand their main characteristics and the different activities planned for their life cycle [
2,
3]. This task is also imperative especially for countries that follow a list-based approach in deciding which projects require an EIA process before their commencement and construction. The results obtained for the description of proposed facilities in the present research revealed that 89% of EIARs were of satisfactory quality (A-C) ratings in addressing the requirements for RC 1.1 (Planning considerations), whereas only a few (6%) were allocated very unsatisfactory (E-F) quality ratings. Other review categories that featured predominantly in the A-C class involved RC 1.4 (Site construction activities), RC 1.5 (Site selection considerations), and RC 1.6 (Environmental base lines). These results are similar to the findings obtained not only in Nigeria, but elsewhere. For instance, in an EIAR quality review conducted for projects in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria, 90% of project activity descriptions were of a satisfactory (A-C) quality [
76]. In addition, several studies in South Africa have reported similar findings attesting to the satisfactory descriptions of proposed activities in their selected EIARs [
20,
21,
23]. Although this review area (RA 1.0) appeared to be of good quality at the review area level in the present research, it is important to highlight some of the quality deficiencies that were found in some of the review categories as well as review subcategories. For example, certain descriptions of project sites were incomplete. Hence, 65% of associated EIARs were assigned to the D-F class, meaning that they were unsatisfactorily populated by EIA consultants. Moreover, many EIARs were assigned an ‘F ‘quality level because they failed to provide meaningful descriptions on the following review subcategories:
Review Sub-Category (RSC) 1.7.5 (Recreational areas): 57 EIARs (F-symbol);
Review Sub-Category (RSC) 1.7.9 (Nature conservation areas: 67 EIARs (F-symbol);
Review Sub-Category (RSC) 1.7.11 (Important agricultural /forestry areas: 44 EIARs (F-symbol).
Overall, the Review Area (RA 5.0) based on the ‘Communication of results’ was performed satisfactorily because approximately 60% of EIARs were assigned to the A-C quality class. However, the greatest area of deficient EIAR quality was seen in the compilation of their non-technical summaries. According to de Jesus [
81], such summaries in an EIAR play a very important role for various stakeholder groups and competent authorities because they provide an easy-to-read and non-technical explanations of critical information, thereby assisting and enhancing meaningful public participation in the environmental assessment process. Despite such roles, in the present study, some of the summaries were completely missing, and where they were presented, they were not only too lengthy to be read conveniently fast, but they had unnecessary technical jargon or terms and abbreviations that were not explained further. In this way, the value of the summaries provided was substantially reduced, thus rendering them unhelpful for enhancing public understanding of the main EIA findings, as well as project descriptions, relevant alternatives, and proposed mitigation strategies.
The quality of EIARs regarding RA 2.0 (Terrain susceptibility in the proposed project areas) was found to be grossly deficient, because the relevant information was either inadequately given or totally missing. All EIARs failed (E-F) to meet criteria for RC 2.1 (Potential conflict with existing land uses). They were poorly and unsatisfactorily written in terms of assessing potential land use clashes and possible conflicts. Such inferior quality means that the EIA processes undertaken were limited in assessing the extent to which the proposed mobile telecommunications infrastructure projects were compatible or incompatible with existing land uses in the selected development sites. These weaknesses also undermine baseline terrain evaluations for the proposed projects and the identification of environmental interactions and impacts [
82]. Moreover, delicate mobile telecommunication infrastructure is susceptible to damage by climatic elements, and even theft by local inhabitants or outsiders, especially in areas where civil protests happen intermittently, thus raising the need to have a good understanding of the prevailing socio-economic conditions in the selected development sites. For example, it has been estimated that in 2012 alone, 530 cell phone base stations were completely vandalized during social upheavals in Nigeria, with another 380 of them being destroyed by floods, while 150 base stations were damaged by the terrorist organisation known as Boko Haram [
83]. Therefore, it is important to understand the various terrain sensitivities in the location of vulnerable infrastructure, thus avoiding potentially dangerous locations for them.
At the heart of the EIA process is the identification and assessment of anticipated environmental impacts [
3]. With such knowledge, the process can assess the magnitude and significance of such impacts, as well as the extent to which they can be mitigated successfully. However, most EIARs in the present study exhibited very deficient quality (with 100% in the D-F class) ratings regarding the criteria set for RA 3.0 (Impact identification and assessment). This problem appears to be long-standing in Nigeria as previous researches have indicated the inadequate identification and description of probable environmental effects in some of the EIARs prepared for projects in the petroleum sector [
40,
84]. The deficient EIAR quality found in the present study is not in line with the EIA guidelines for the telecommunications sector in Nigeria, especially given the negative human health impacts associated with the mobile telecommunications infrastructure [
71,
72,
85]. In addition, the present research found that key information concerning the different impacts (such as avian collisions, terrestrial habitat alterations, aquatic habitat alterations, and visual intrusions, amongst others) likely to be caused by cell phone base stations were not satisfactorily provided, thus contrary to good EIA practices in environmental assessment reporting, as highlighted in some of the international literature [
3,
11,
86,
87]. Furthermore, the present findings are in stark contrast with the patterns seen in the results generated by Anifowose et al. [
76] for oil and gas projects in Nigeria, where up to 74% (i.e., 14) of their EIARs exhibited generally satisfactory (A-C) quality. Regardless of the low quality of impact identification and assessment of key impacts (i.e., avian collisions, terrestrial habitat alterations, aquatic habitat alterations, and visual intrusions, amongst others) in the present research, it is imperative to indicate that the impact assessment methodologies were provided generically and they were based on the traditional Leopold matrix method of impact prediction, the relevant formula used for this purpose, and applicable thresholds for low, moderate, and high impacts. In that context, 75% of the impact assessments performed were apportioned to the A-C quality class. Although such impact predictions are not necessarily out of place for the environmental assessment of mobile telecommunication infrastructure projects, it could have been more meaningful to distinguish between direct and indirect impacts; significant and insignificant impacts; cumulative and residual impacts during the scoping process, thus focusing more time and attention on the most significant impacts.
As specified earlier, Review Area 4.0 was based on the planned mitigation measures and the consideration of alternatives for the proposed mobile telecommunications projects in Plateau State. Project developers are obliged to specify, investigate, and analyse the most feasible mitigation measures, the prime purpose being to minimise and reduce the magnitude and severity of anticipated adverse environmental impacts during the life cycle of proposed development actions [
2,
18,
88]. However, in the present study, these requirements came out to be one of the worst performing (i.e., D-F ratings) review area, judging from the multiple weaknesses that were identified in the selected EIARs. Furthermore, the consideration and evaluation of impacts associated with various alternatives is an important section in an EIAR and is tantamount to good EIA practice. In contrast, in the study carried out by Sandham et al. [
21] in South Africa, it has been reported that the mitigation arrangements provided and the consideration of alternatives both exhibited relatively better quality because about 65% of their EIARs were assigned a ‘C’ quality rating or higher, although it was also conceded that there were inherent challenges. Furthermore, the Dutch EIA procedure (which is an example of an international best practice) makes the development of alternatives for proposed projects and the assessments of impacts associated with each alternative a mandatory task [
89]. Similarly, Kamijo and Huang [
90] (p. 144) maintain that the “identification and comparison of alternatives are central to the application of EIA as a creative, problem-solving process”. Therefore, one way to improve the quality of EIARs in developing countries, including Nigeria, is to pay attention to processes that involve the analysis of alternatives and public involvement and the linkages between them.
After providing a discussion of quality in the different review areas and associated review sub-categories and performing comparisons with the relevant literature, it is also important to reflect on the improvements in EIAR quality between the two study periods (2006–2012 and 2014–2015) (
Table 12). Judging from the patterns summarised in
Table 12, it is clear that there were only limited improvements in the quality of EIARs sampled for the two study periods. Moreover, in some instances, the quality of certain review areas and associated tasks never changed, whereas in some of the review areas, there were actually decreases in EIAR quality.
Nonetheless, key improvements were found in the review areas that required the performance of descriptive tasks and the overall communications of results. According to some of the existing literature, descriptive tasks are usually the easiest in the writing of EIARs; therefore, such review areas are always performed relatively well [
21,
25]. Apart from the improvements seen in RA 1.0 (Descriptive tasks) and RA 5.0 (Communication of results), the quality of EIARs declined in several review areas. Furthermore, the frequency of instances with no improvements was relatively high, especially in the case of the following review areas:
RA 2.0: Terrain susceptibility;
RA 3.0: Impact identification and prediction;
RA 4.0: Mitigation measures and alternatives.
Based on the results generated in the current study, the quality of selected EIARs is below the standard of EIA reporting documented in many international studies, although it is acknowledged that EIARs will always have problem areas, whether they are produced in the developed or developing countries. One of the implications that may be drawn from these results is that the sampled EIARs are not fit for the purpose they were supposed to fulfil; thus contributing negatively towards the attainment of sustainable development in the environmental management of mobile telecommunications infrastructure in Plateau State (Nigeria).
5. Conclusions and Recommendations
This study has presented and discussed the different findings pertaining to the quality of EIARs regarding mobile telecommunication projects earmarked for construction in Plateau State. As Sandham et al. [
20] maintains, conducting EIA processes in a successful manner depends, amongst other things, on the writing and generation of high-quality EIARs. Sound environmental decisions and the licensing of projects also depend on the quality of EIARs, thus explaining why there is a proliferation of studies that examine EIAR quality internationally [
6,
7,
25,
28,
86].
The findings generated in the present study have addressed the different research objectives that were set out at the beginning of the research. Based on the various review areas, review categories, and review sub-categories in line with the adapted Lee and Colley Review Package, it has been indicated that the quality of the selected EIARs is grossly inferior and unsatisfactory (D-F) in many key areas. The quality was only satisfactory in the more descriptive tasks and the communication of results, thus depicting some aspects that may be regarded as areas of strengths. In contrast, many key environmental assessment tasks were either poorly attempted, inadequate, or entirely missing in those areas that required more analytical capabilities and adherence to international best practices on the part of the EAPs who compiled them. Areas of weaknesses entailed the identification and assessment of impacts, analysis of environmental base lines, estimation of terrain susceptibility, and the consideration of alternatives and formulation of mitigation measures. Such inferior EIAR quality outcomes mean that various environmental assessment tasks were not performed adequately, thus undermining the value of EIA as an impact prediction and mitigation planning instrument. Inevitably, the ‘fitness-for-purpose’ of the reviewed EIARs for aiding the decision-making process is considerably inadequate.
Furthermore, there was no marked improvement in the quality of EIARs between the two study periods (i.e., 2006–2012 and 2014–2015 periods), thus implying a serious lack of organizational learning and professional experience amongst the regulatory institutions in Nigeria and the environmental consulting companies that prepare and present EIARs to various stakeholders for joint environmental decision-making. Even more concerning from a sustainable development perspective is instances where the quality of EIARs actually deteriorated for the worse between the study periods. In the absence of satisfactory EIAR quality and chronological improvements over time, the reports produced for proposed mobile telecommunications projects are not only unhelpful for making sound environmental management decisions, but they undermine environmental stewardship and professional standards in the writing and compilation of EIARs.
As part of addressing these shortfalls, we recommend that EIARs in Nigeria should adhere to set EIA criteria and guidelines specified for the telecommunications infrastructure. There is also a need for more periodic evaluations of EIARs and further research in other economic sectors, the goal being to improve their legal and regulatory compliance and to build technical and methodological capacity for high-quality EIARs. Furthermore, the low quality of EIARs suggest the need for a renewed and robust professional certification body for the registration of professional environmental assessors in Nigeria.