Environmental Management System and ISO 14001 for Nigeria Higher Education : a case study of Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi

Abstract:

Numerous organisations implement Environmental Management System (EMS) as a tool for continuous improvement and change of environmental work in the organisations. Universities have also during the last decade implemented EMS to provide structure to their environmental activities and to work towards ecological sustainability of their campuses.

Many of them include also the indirect aspects of education and research in their EMS and are now working towards the goal of sustainable development. Some universities in the developed part of the world have even had their EMS certified according to ISO 14001 to be able to used it for example in marketing and for international recognition and acceptance.

An EMS implementation means creating a number of routines and new ways to work in an organisation like university. This requires training for the management, faculty and staff so they can understand why they should work within an EMS structure and how their task can contributes to an improved environmental impact from the organisation and to sustainable development in the long run.

This new management system has achieved positive results in the developed part of the world and if introduce in the developing countries, like Nigeria,could help to reduce the impacts on the environment. This resulted to the study; the implementation of EMS in Nigeria higher education, via literature review, interviews and open structured questionnaires in Auchi polytechnic, as the case study area.

The study provides results, such as possible success factors, like top management commitment in all aspect, strict legislations on punishment for non-compliances and incentives for compliances etc, recommendations to Auchi Polytechnic, possible drivers, like Government directives, strict regulatory legislative laws on EMS implementation etc, barriers to EMS implementation like lack of commitment from government and stakeholders, lack of funds etc and suggestions for further studies.