The Minister for Environment, Mr John Odey, has said that Federal Government will soon come up with effective legislation on oil spill and other environmental degradation.

The minister said the legislation would spell out liabilities, responses and compensation for damages caused on the environment.Odey made this known in Nairobi on Tuesday while addressing the 25th Governing Council and Global Ministerial Environment Forum of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

This was contained in a statement issued by the Special Assistant to the Minister on Media, Mr Rotimi Ajayi in Abuja. The minister noted that the time had come for stringent measures to be taken in order to protect the environment and the means of livelihood of the people, particularly those in the Niger-Delta area."As I speak, environmental degradation, climate change, global economic downturn, food and energy crises are the multiple challenges steering us in the face.

"Environmental degradation has been worsened by the vagaries of climate change. Concern to us should be the fact that these challenges if not tackled head-on could weaken our efforts to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)," he said.Odey said oil spillage had posed serious environmental problems in Nigeria, particularly the un-ending threats to the marine or aquatic lives in theoil bearing area.He said the means of livelihood of the people had been endangered, adding thatNigeria was in full support of the Global Green Economy Initiative (the Global Green New Deal), which sought to reduce environmental degradation.Odey also said the Green Economy Initiative would channel investments into dynamic economic sectors with gains in conservation of critical ecological resources such as water, quality land and forest.

"Nigeria supports the initiative on the green economy as it presents opportunities for diversification of our economy that is dependent on oil,"he said. The minister urged his colleagues to form partnership that would see both the developed and the developing nations work together to realise the goal of the global green economy initiative.He said the situation in developing countries, especially African States, had worsened owing to lack of access to technology and inadequate financial resources for appropriate remedial measures.

The minister further said Nigeria would continue to play leadership role to enhance the decisions taken by the ad-hoc working group on mercury and the issue of chemicals management.The UNEP meeting aimed at forming stronger multilateral position to tackle the problem of climate change and other environmental problems. Sixty six countries and major environmental groups as well as stakeholders attended the meeting.