The snapshot research study had to adopt aselective approach to identifying additional EIAinterviews and focussed on:- Another national agency from within theFMEnv family that has already adopted anddeployed digital approaches within their work.The aim being to to identify potential learningopportunities. The organisation selected wasNOSDRA – the Nigerian Oil Spill Detection andResponse Agency- Expert EIA consultants, it is important tounderstand how developer interest and thosedelivering of practice are progressing in terms ofapplying digital technology and approaches intheir work, and what areas are beginning to beexplored.- International bodies with an interest in EIAthat have the capability to help support thedevelopment of Digital EIA approaches andpractices in Nigeria. In this context, discussionswith the International Finance Corporation(IFC) and the Netherlands Commission forEnvironmental Assessment (NCEA) wereconsidered to demonstrate two areas ofpotential technical collaboration / support thatsit aside more traditional financial supportopportunities, which remain relevant and arefurther discussed in Chapter 3.NOSDRA – Application of Digital Systems andperspectives on digitising EIADiscussions were held with NOSDRA’s Directorresponsible for information and communicationstechnology (ICT) and geographic informationsystems (GIS). It is notable that this Agency, withinthe FMEnv family of institutions and bodies, has astructural role and dedicated senior staff focussedon the application of digital approaches andtechnology.The Agency’s more recent establishment andits need to monitor oil spill incidents over a largearea that is often difficult to access, placed agreater need to rely on digital technologies thathad emerged concurrently with its functions.NOSDRA is built on the concept of a data bank ofoil spill related information gathered by its staff,submitted by site operators and reported bycommunities and members of the public. As such,its staffing structure and systems recognise theneed for a command and control centre style ofdata management and the need for staff whosebackground skills and experience is oriented tosuch systems (Figure 2.1). This is in contrast to theEA Department in FMEnv whose role in deliveringNigeria’s EIA procedures was well established– and thus the typical EA Officer / staff skillsset ‘fixed’ – prior to the regular uptake of digitalapproaches and technology in EIA practice.The Department’s current work on progressing Digital EIA is linkedto Section 57(1) of the EIA legislation, which sets out the need forFMEnv to develop a public registry for EIA projects. This registry isexpected to allow access to EIA Reports, consultee responses andother documents related to the EIA process.Willend Associates and FothergillTC Ltd – Digitization in and around Nigerian EIA13
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