In 2026, the NCEA and the Niger Basin Authority (NBA) signed an MOU to develop cooperation on strengthening Enivronmental Assessment application to strategic investements. This includes applying SESA to programming and ESIA to projects with transboundary components.
The ABN and NCEA will work on various topics:
Basin-wide strategic planning: the ABN is updating the shared vision for the Basin, the five-year action plan and the SDAGE for the Basin;
Capacity Development: ABN is responsible for drafting TOR for ESIAs for community-shared projects. They could benefit from training on this topic;
Professional exchange: The NCEA is active in 7 of the 9 member states, working on some projects that could be interesting for other member states (such as the Nigeria SEA for Hydropower). Bilateral or multilateral exchange between member states can benefit respective planning processes;
Working on tools and methods: specifically, the ABN developed guidelines on transboundary ESIA and a report on the state of environment in the basin. The NCEA was request to support the further application fo these tools.
The cooperation kicked off with an online workshop for the staff of the executive secretariat as well as member states' focal points. Other activities planned in 2026 include a regional meeting in Abuja on reforming the role of the ABN executive secretary to manage strategic investments.
