Reconstructing the Historical Trajectory of Environmental Health Governance in Nigeria: Lessons for Future Policy Design

A rigorous historical analysis of the evolution of environmental health governance in Nigeria, tracing institutional developments, legislative milestones, and policy failures from the colonial period to the present, has never been conducted in the Nigerian academic literature, representing a critical gap in the foundational knowledge needed to design effective future policy. This dissertation reconstructs the historical trajectory of environmental health governance in Nigeria from 1914 to 2024 and derives original policy design lessons for future governance architecture. A historical institutionalism theoretical framework was applied, using archival research at the National Archives in Ibadan, Enugu, and Kaduna; the Nigerian Institute for Advanced Legal Studies; and NESREA and FMENV records offices. Forty-seven formerly confidential policy documents, legislative debates, and ministerial communications were analyzed alongside sixty-one oral history interviews with retired environmental health policymakers, former NESREA directors, and civil society pioneers. Three analytical periods were identified: colonial public health administration (1914 to 1960), post-independence health infrastructure building and industrial expansion (1960 to 1988), and the FEPA-NESREA environmental governance era (1988 to present). The analysis reveals recurring pathological patterns including policy amnesia across administration transitions, systematic subordination of public health considerations to industrial development objectives, and cyclical weakening of regulatory agencies during periods of petroleum revenue contraction. Lessons derived from the historical analysis are formalized as twelve evidence-based principles for future environmental health governance architecture design. The dissertation makes an original historiographical contribution and provides a foundational reference for Nigerian environmental health policy scholarship. Keywords: environmental health governance, historical analysis, Nigeria, institutional history, policy design.