Indications of halting the devastation and wastages in gas flaring emerged as a bill known as the Anti-Gas Flaring (Prohibition and Enforcement) bill, which seeks to prohibit the flaring and venting of natural gas, except in strictly regulated circumstances, has passed second reading at the House of Representatives.
The Bill, sponsored by Hon Babajimi Benson, seeks to also encourage the utilisation of gas resources to foster economic growth and energy generation.
The lawmaker had argued on December 5 on the floor of the Assembly that the proposed law will mitigate the environmental, health, and economic impacts of gas flaring and will align Nigeria’s oil and gas operations with our international climate change commitments.
Responding to this development, a non-governmental organisation known as Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN) described it as “heart-warming.”
The chairman of the board of Eden, Chima Williams said in a statement: “For us at EDEN, this bill represents the true yearnings of Niger Delta communities that have been experiencing gas flares along with its implications such as unmitigated release of greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change, acid rain, and soot pollution, among others, for decades.
“Gas flaring in the Niger Delta region has equally led to public health issues as natives of host communities where the gas flare stacks are sited suffer respiratory illnesses, severe itching and other ailments that have evolved over time and contribute to the declining life expectancy in the region. Currently, life expectancy in the Niger Delta where oil facilities are located is 41 years, 10 years lower than the national average.
“We have equally noticed a trend attributable to the oil industry which, is the setting ablaze of oil spill impacted environment instead of proper clean up and remediation as is the standard practice globally. As we speak, this is the current situation at a site operated by Oando at Ogboinbiri, Bayelsa State. The site of the spill supposedly cleaned up went up in flames in the early hours of Monday, December 9.”
He added: “While we applaud the efforts of Hon. Babajimi Benson in pushing through this Bill, we find it very curious that the call for ending of gas flaring is coming from a non-Niger Deltan while the supposed representatives of the Niger Delta communities who are in the hallowed chambers still prevaricate on matters of pollution that their people suffer every day.
“We anticipate that this initiative will wake them from their stupor and compel them to advocate, initiate and support laws that will guarantee the well-being of Niger Delta communities that host oil and gas projects. Of importance is our desire that they work to remove the administrative bureaucracies that have made the clean-up of Ogoniland in Rivers State as recommended by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), seamless so that it can be the model for replication of the clean-up of other sites of pollution in the region.”
“Time and again, we have advocated the need for a comprehensive environmental audit of the Niger Delta. We are using this medium to reiterate that call.”
