In what appears as taking the recalcitrant bull by the horns, the House of Representatives has set the ball rolling in a bid to halt the dangerous practice of gas flaring in the oil producing communities in the Niger Delta region. A bill to rein in the monstrosity in Nigeria scaled a second reading last Thursday.
The sponsor of the bill and Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Defence, Hon. Babajimi Benson, in presenting its general principles, described the move as representing “a decisive legislative intervention aimed at addressing the longstanding and damaging practice of gas flaring in Nigeria.”
He argued that the bill was firmly rooted in the constitutional obligation to protect the environment and promote sustainable development, with the overall objectives of mitigating the environmental, health, and economic impacts of gas flaring as well as aligning Nigeria’s oil and gas operations with international climate change commitments.
Entitled “Gas Flaring (Prohibition and Enforcement) Bill, 2024”, Hon. Benson said it also seeks to prohibit the flaring and venting of natural gas, except in strictly regulated circumstances, while encouraging the utilisation of gas resources to foster economic growth and energy generation. The Bill also provides a robust framework for enforcement, monitoring, and the imposition of penalties to ensure compliance.
He lamented that the dangerous exercise had plagued Nigeria for decades, leading to severe environmental degradation, public health crises and colossal economic losses, stressing that environmentally, it has contributed to greenhouse gas emissions, global warming and acid rain, and above all, the climate challenges.
The renewed efforts at ending the menace of gas flaring may not excite many Nigerians. This is because it is not the first time the National Assembly will embark on this kind of mission.
As recently as 2019, a resolution was passed by the 9th Senate for upward review of the penalty for breakers of the nation’s gas flaring laws. The upper chamber reached the resolution after consideration of a motion entitled: “The need to monitor the Nigerian Flare Commercialisation Programme Towards Ending Gas Flaring by 2020”.
The motion, sponsored by Senator Betty Apiafi representing PDP Rivers West constituency, was intended to draw the attention of the Senate to the extant laws against flaring of associated natural gas in Nigeria. She lamented the manner in which the laws were being flaunted by international oil companies in the country.
According to Senator Apiafi, Section 3(1) of the Gas Re-injection Act introduced in 1984 states, “No company engaged in the production of oil and gas shall after January 1, 1984, flare gas produced in association with or without the permission in writing of the minister.”
She bemoaned the huge revenue loss due to relentless gas flares in the country, disclosing that in 2018 alone, figures revealed by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) indicated that the federal government lost about N197bn from a total of 215.9bn standard cubic feet of natural gas flared.
She further said, “Nigeria’s gas reserves are about three times the value of crude oil deposits with a value of about 202trn cubic feet of natural gas, but despite having the largest gas deposits in Africa, only about 25 per cent or less of these reserves are being produced.”
She noted that the lack of enforcement of the laws in previous years was thwarting the government’s projected deadline of 2020 to end routine associated gas flaring.
Currently, Nigeria ranks second to Russia and the largest in Africa on the global gas flaring index. Environmental experts have consistently urged the Nigerian government to caution all relevant emission defaulters to drastically limit gas emissions because of their fatal consequences on the environment. Nigeria is one of Africa’s top oil producers and the largest holder of natural gas reserves on the continent, with about 187trn cubic feet of proven gas reserves and 600scf of unproven gas reserves.
Curiously, Nigeria is not listed among the signatories to the treaty to end gas flaring at oil production fields globally by 2030 even when our own 2020 deadline had become a mirage four years ago. Four African countries, Angola, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo and Gabon, were among nine leading global crude oil producers that joined chief executives of major oil companies to endorse the “Zero Routine Flaring by 2030” initiative. The initiative was launched in Washington DC, United States of America about eight or so years ago by the former United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, and the ex-World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim.
It is regrettable to note that many oil companies in the country still flare their gas consequently polluting the environment with its attendant hazards. Many oil plants have remained recalcitrant and continued to run their operations leading to a waste of energy and money as well as putting the lives of the citizens in the oil producing communities at high risk.
Gas flaring has been a worrisome phenomenon which has defied a ban since the Gowon era till date. Many believe that systemic corruption is also a factor working against the move to achieve the deadlines for the elimination of the practice.
Reducing gas flare will undoubtedly make a significant contribution towards mitigating the horrific effects of climate change. The flared gas ought to be channeled towards improving Nigeria’s epileptic power sector. What is more, the present administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu is preaching a shift to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-driven vehicles. There is, therefore, no better time to enforce the ban on the dangerous practice than now.
Finally, we urge the National Assembly to work closely with the executive arm to strengthen and/or enforce the extent laws on gas flaring rather than embarking on a fresh legislative exercise.