Journal of Environmental Science and Technology1994-78872077-2181Asian Network for Scientific Information10.3923/jest.2011.250.263EnehOnyenekenwa Cyprian3201143In pursuit of economic development, Nigeria and most other post-colonial countries veered in industrialization at Independence. The focus was on maximum exploitation of natural resources for rapid economic development with scant regard for resource conservation and sustainability. Industrial activities, usually carried out in developing countries with weak legal framework and regulation infrastructure, led to pollution of water resources, destruction of fauna and flora, health hazards and deterioration of health quality, air and noise pollution, as well as destruction of traditional economic infrastructures within communities hosting some of these high powered investments. Following the 1972 Stockholm UN Conference on Human Environment, the 1992 UN Rio de Jeneiro Earth Summit and the dumping of toxic waste in Koko in Delta State of Nigeria by a foreign firm in 1988, Nigeria established the some national policies on environment, including the Federal Environmental Protection Act in 1988 and attendant Environmental Impact Assessment Act of 1992, as well as the Federal Ministry of Environment in 1999. This review study examines Nigerias environmental legal framework and the unresolved issues amidst environmental pollution and degradation in the country. Two decades of the EIA Act in Nigeria, the countrys environment is still characterized by ecological problems, unplanned growth and increasing problems of domestic and industrial waste disposal and pollution. Economic development activities, especially in the oil and gas sector, accelerate the loss of topsoil and deforestation, loss of habitat, loss of species and loss of biodiversity, as well as degeneration of wetlands. Water shortages and floods lead to deterioration of urban environmental quality and play a major role in transmission of communicable diseases. Corruption in the water sector is another major player in environmental degradation worldwide, especially in developing countries, including Nigeria. Weak implementation has rendered EIA Act a paper Tiger.]]>Ifeanyi, A.,20022002pp: 113Anukam, L.C.,19971997Ebigbo, P.O.,20082008Eneh, O.C.,20114103111Eneh, O.C. and Y.C. Okezie,200916792Eneh, O.C.,200816146157Eneh, O.C. and N.J. Owo,20083100103Eneh, O.C.,1998FMSMD,20042004Nwafor, J.C.,2006Okonkwo, M.C.,1998Onyeabor, E.U.,20002000Sadler, B.,19941994Toby, M.,1998Transparency International, Cambridge University Press and Water Integrity Network,2008World Bank,1990Goodland, R. and G. Tillman,19951995pp: 2-34pp: 2-34Mabogunje, A.L.,20002000Nkamnebe, A.D.,20102010pp: 1212