Towards achieving the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals: The imperative of reforming water pollution control and waste management laws in Nigeria

Nigeria is among the group of developing countries that have adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) blueprint as a veritable vehicle for poverty eradication, economic growth and sustainable development. However, the pollution of its surface water from discharges from domestic, industrial and agricultural waste degrading the quality of fresh water available to human needs and poor environmental sanitation cast serious doubt on Nigeria’s ability to meet the United Nations’ (UN) MDGs as most of the citizen still obtain water for domestic use from natural sources. This paper examines the efficacy of the legal framework that protects water from pollution. It concludes these laws are inadequate to meet the contemporary challenges of managing water that is an essential component to meet the UN’s MDG. Consequently, it suggests that further reforms are required to revise the legal framework to tackle these present challenges.