Section 37: Interpretation.

In this Act-
"Agency" means the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency established under section 1 of this Act;
"Appropriate authorities" means any government agency which has jurisdiction over the land or water affected by the pollution or any government agency which ordinarily has jurisdiction or any government over the operation which led to the pollution;
"Authorised authorities or officer" means any employee of the Agency, any Police officer not below the rank of Inspector of Police or any custom officer;
"Chairman" means the Chairman of the Agency appointed under Section 3 (1)(a)of this Act;
"Constitution" means the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999;
"Court" means the Federal or State High Court;
"Council" means the Council of the Agency established under section 3 of this Act;
"Director-General" means the Director-General of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency;
"Disposal" includes both land based disposal and dumping in waters and air space of Nigeria;
"Effluent limitation" means any restriction established by the Agency of quantities, rates and concentration of chemical, physical, biological or other constituents which are discharged from point sources into the waters in Nigeria;
"Environment" includes water, air, land and all plants and human beings or animals living therein and the inter-relationships which exist among these or any of them;
"Hazardous substance" means any chemical, physical or biological and radioactive material that poses a threat to human health and the environment or any such substance regulated under international conventions to which Nigeria is a party or signatory e.g. Montreal Protocol, Rotterdam Convention, Stockholm Convention etc. and includes any substance designated as such by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by order published in the Federal Gazette;
"He" means male or female gender;
"Member" means a member of the Council and includes the Chairman;
"Minister" means the Minister charged with the responsibility of the environment;
"New source" means any source, the construction of which is commenced after the publication of any regulations prescribing a standard to such source;
"Officer" means qualified persons employed to act in that capacity by the Agency;
"Offshore facility" means any facility (including but not limited to motor vehicles and rolling stock) of any kind located over, in, or under any land within Nigeria other than submerged land;
"Owner" or "Operator" means, in the case of-
(a) vessel, any person owning, operating or chartering by demise such vessel;
(b) an onshore facility or an offshore facility, any person owning or operating such onshore facility or offshore facility; and
(c) any abandoned offshore facility, the person who owned or operated such facility immediately prior to such abandonment;
"point source" means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduct, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation or vessel or other floating craft from which pollutants are or may be discharged;
"President" means the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;
"Pollution" means man-made or man-aided alteration of chemical, physical, or biological quality of the environment beyond acceptable limits and "pollutants" shall be construed accordingly;
"Removal" means removal of hazardous substances from the environment of Nigeria or the taking of such action as may be necessary to minimize or mitigate damage to the public health or welfare, ecology and natural resources of Nigeria;
"Stratosphere" means the part of the atmosphere above the troposphere;
"Water of Nigeria" means all water resources in any form including atmospheric, surface, and sub-surface, and under ground water resources where the water resources are interstate, or in the Federal Capital Territory, Territorial Waters, Exclusive Economic Zone or in any other area under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government of Nigeria.