By Naomi Sharang
A group of environmental and climate justice experts on Monday, flagged off a National Moot Trial Competition on Environmental Justice and Climate Impact Litigation (EJCIL).
The consortium said that the launch is expedient, following climate change and worsening environmental challenges in Nigeria.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that EJCIL Moot Competition is an innovative initiative of the International Working Group on Petroleum Pollution and Just Transition in the Niger Delta (IWG).
Key partners include the Gender Inclusive Climate Change Governance Initiative (GENCGOV, UK), Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA, Nigeria), Network of University Legal Aid Institutions (NULAI Nigeria), University of Bradford (UK), Aberystwyth University (UK), and Leigh Day (UK).
The inaugural competition is tagged: “Historical Wrongs and Contemporary Remedies.”
Speaking at the event, a founding member of the IWG, Prof. Engobo Emeseh of Aberystwyth University, UK, called for urgent action to tackle Nigeria’s environmental and climate crisis.
Emeseh said that one of the stark outcomes from the “Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission” report—and indeed the lived reality of decades of oil pollution in the Niger Delta was the lack of access to justice.
She identified years of oil pollution in the Niger Delta as well as Nigeria’s rising climate vulnerabilities and severe flooding, as being factors that have continued to deny communities access to justice.
According to her, the EJCIL moot competition will help to cultivate the next generation of lawyers.
“This will be by equipping emerging advocates with the skills and confidence to see, name, and challenge both historical and ongoing injustices against communities and the environment.
“By empowering young people to engage critically with the realities of environmental and climate justice, it strengthens the IWG’s mission to secure fair and long-term justice and accountability for the Niger Delta and beyond,” she said .
Also speaking, President of the Network of University Legal Aid Institutions (NULAI) Nigeria, Prof. Ernest Ojukwu (SAN), highlighted the importance of practical legal education.
According to him, the moot competition offers law students a unique chance to develop advocacy skills, while tackling real-world environmental and climate challenges.
He described the EJCIL initiative as timely, visionary and essential, for grooming lawyers equipped to drive justice and sustainability.
On her part, Dr. Pedi Obani of the University of Bradford, emphasised the role of young people in shaping environmental governance.
She said that the competition helps students to see the law not just as a tool for litigation, but as a means of transformation, accountability and community-focused justice.
Meanwhile, NULAI Executive Director, Mrs Odi Lagi, said that the competition is open to undergraduate law students across the country.
She noted that it is designed to be inclusive and accessible to participants from all law faculties, regardless of curriculum differences.
According to her, the event comes at a critical time, when environmental and human rights issues are becoming central to global justice efforts. (NAN)
Edited by Sandra Umeh
