A review of oil pollution law and governance in Nigeria

 

By: Irekpitan Okukpon
Title: Oil Pollution Law and Governance in Nigeria
Author: Kayode Oyende
Publisher: Stirling Horden,
Date: July, 2017.
Number of Pages: 355

Oil pollution is regarded as a very sensitive issue for two main reasons. First, oil plays a key role in sustaining the economy of various nations in the world, including Nigeria.

Secondly, oil pollution remains one of the most popular causes of environmental degradation in Nigeria. Efforts of the international community through multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), several agencies of the United Nations and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) have provided increased awareness and set out different approaches to preventing oil pollution on land and water.

Whilst Nigeria has legislation dating back decades, which regulate the oil industry, the lacuna evident in these legislation, particularly with regards to liability and compensation for oil pollution makes this book an appropriate apparatus towards bridging this evidentiary gap. The author’s expertise is reflected through his illuminating analysis of these issues within the subject which remains highly important and controversial in the Nigerian domain.

This book was conceived to provide a detailed and comprehensive overview of oil pollution law and governance in Nigeria. The rationale for the book is emphasized by the author who asserts on p. 2 that ‘development, through industrialisation…has brought into its wake, the threat to the environment through pollution arising from, inter alia, the spillage of crude oil into the seas and rivers through accidental discharges, etc.’

The author asserts on page6 that ‘the challenge, therefore, is for humans, not to halt their developmental wheels, but to ensure that the advance to greater development is matched by a corresponding reduction on the environment of all polluting substances arising from oil or other sources of energy.’

The book has a total of eight chapters running through 355 pages, a compilation of requisite information material for legal practitioners, litigants, legal scholars and laymen to fully comprehend the intricacies of oil pollution.

Chapter one appraises the background, history and effects of oil pollution in Nigeria. Chapter two provides a succinct theoretical basis for approaches used in preventing oil pollution. Chapter three addresses international treaties on oil pollution and obligations which arise from ratifications from them by Nigeria.
Chapter four examines the effectiveness of legislation, policy documents and the power of regulatory institutions in Nigeria to tackle oil spills and oil pollution, with Chapter five focusing on the issues surrounding oil pollution in the inland waters of Nigeria.

Chapter six and seven deals expansively with oil pollution regulation in the jurisdiction of the United States of America and South Africa. The book concludes in Chapter eight with a summary of findings and proffers salient recommendations for the Nigerian government, the Nigerian judiciary, and multinational oil companies (MNOCs) and international organizations operating in Nigeria.

All the chapters in the book have been skilfully written, without distracting the reader from the critical issues impacting on oil pollution governance in Nigeria.

The result is that the reader is granted a broad review of global oil pollution strategies which impact on the Nigerian sphere. Through each chapter, the reader is guided to specific, informative extracts which testify to the expertise and meticulousness of the author.

As a testimony to the author’s expertise in international environmental law, the book discusses key international law principles such as the polluter-pays principle, preventive principle and the precautionary principle which affords academics, non-academics, legal practitioners and laymen an insight and clearer understanding of these principles of international environmental law.

The concept of sustainable development is also used as a corollary to explain its necessity as a slogan in shaping the policy of government. The author affirms on P.68, inter alia, that the notion of sustainable development includes ‘collaboration among all sorts of societal actors, including business, civil society organizations and ordinary citizens to bring about deep-seated reforms’ of oil pollution law and policy.

The author has left no stone unturned as the book is richly laden with relevant cases which results in a logical progression of the narrative on oil pollution governance in Nigeria.

The language of the book is clear and concise, with little or no proof-reading errors. The usage of headings and sub-headings throughout the chapters provide clarity of purpose and enables the reader to follow through on the analysis without convolutions.

The layout of the book is pleasant to the eye and purports to elicit curiosity in the exploration of its contents.

Oil Pollution Law and Governance in Nigeria by Kayode Oyende, PhD is unquestionably a scholarly work which not only fills a gap in existing literature on environmental law in general, and oil pollution genre in particular, but also fills a gap in legal literature.

The book proffers useful pathways and provocative insights which will be useful to academics/researchers, legal practitioners, government, international organizations, environmental NGOs and students.

Dr Okukpon is a Research Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of Lagos campus, Akoka, Lagos State.

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