WEF Nexus and Sustainable Investments in West Africa: The Case of Nigeria

Water, energy and food (WEF) resources are vital to all aspects of human existence and survival. Recent studies have therefore increasingly underlined the need for a nexus governance approach as an important vehicle through which countries can holistically achieve sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals. Existing studies have analysed the guiding principles of emerging law and governance frameworks across Europe and North America that implement WEF nexus approach in practice. However, an assessment of the legal and governance frameworks on WEF nexus in the African context, and the challenges that limit their successful implementation, remains sparse. This chapter fills a gap in this regard. Drawing lessons from Nigeria in West Africa, this chapter discusses the importance of WEF nexus governance for advancing sustainable investments in these important and interdependent sectors. It examines the preconditions for WEF nexus integration, the scope of application in a developing country context, the current barriers to implementation and the emerging solutions for addressing such practical challenges. The study suggests that elaborating sustainable development and human rights safeguards in investment instruments in the WEF sector, reforming existing laws and institutions to ensure coherent implementation of WEF programmes, improving the availability and reliability of statistical data needed to drive integrated WEF planning and designing capacity development programmes for WEF actors are significant steps towards improving the development and successful implementation of WEF programmes in West African countries, such as Nigeria.