Photo: A view of the Lagoon, Victoria Island, LagosSourced from stock.adobe.com2.2 | FMEnv’s Current progress in relation toDigital EIAEnvironmental Assessment Department within theFMEnv has sought to improve the effectiveness ofNigeria’s EIA system, including the developmentof many guides and the implementation of thenation’s register of EIA experts. It is thereforeunsurprising that FMEnv has also sought toexplore the potential of digital systems to furtherenhance the application of EIA across Nigeria.Initial activities, some years ago now, includedrecognising the need to upgrade the technologyand equipment available to the Departmentand its officers to manage the EIA process andrelated documents. The submission of over 5000EIA Reports to FMEnv, since 2007, with multiplehard copies required at both Draft and ApprovalEIA Report and the need to retain copies forthe Department’s records meant that the largevolumes of paper work had piled up. FMEnvrecognised the need for better organisation of itsexisting record and improved ways to store its EIAarchive in the future.FMEnv secured financial support from The WorldBank – via funded initiatives within Nigeria thatincluded ambitions to improve environmentalprotection. Through these funds the Departmentwas able to:10- Create storage facilities to better organise itsarchive of hard-copy EIA Reports- Invest in ICT equipment & technology –computers, scanners, internet connectivity,and hard drives - to enable the archive to bescanned future and better use computers in theday to day work of the staff.- Digitise a large volume of its hard-copy EIA- via supporting the staff resources and timerequired to manually scan EIA documents andstore these on hard-drives.This investment and upgrade has certainly madea difference, but as with any investment in ITfacilities have a limited lifespan as equipment bothbreaks and becomes outdated over time. Whilethe need to secure sufficient funding to enableon-going upgrades and investment in ICTtechnology is a challenge, a more significantbarrier to FMEnv progress in digital EIA is a lackof investment in ICT capacity within the staffavailable to the Department – see Section 3.2.More recently the Department has used centralGovernment funds via the FMEnv to help developits digital EIA ambitions; however, these fundsinevitably compete with the need for operationaldelivery and tend to be of a smaller scale thanWillend Associates and FothergillTC Ltd – Digitization in and around Nigerian EIA
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