Niger Delta Group Threatens Court Action over Gas Flaring by IOCs
A Niger Delta based-nongovernmental organisation (NGO), the Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), yesterday threatened to initiate court action against the federal government and multinational companies over failure to put an end to gas flaring in the region.
To prevent court action, the group therefore urged the government to compel multinational oil companies to immediately begin the process of putting an end to gas flaring in the oil rich Niger Delta region and threatened to drag the government and oil firms to court if nothing is urgently done to address the issue.
The National Coordinator of CEPEJ, Sheriff Mulade in a statement issued in Warri, Delta State, decried the continued gas flaring by multinational oil companies in the region, noting that adequate measures must be put in place now to eliminate gas flaring.
The environmentalist claimed that the federal government was not doing enough to call multinational oil companies to order over their continued gas flaring, adding that consideration should be given to the lives of people being exposed to the hazard of gas flaring in the region.
He implored the federal government to enforce the ultimatum to the multinationals issued to them long ago and recommended stiff sanctions against, including withdrawal of operational licences of defaulting oil firms.
“We are not happy about the flagrant manner in which multinationals disobey orders to stop gas flaring in the region. We are worried about the increased mortality rate caused by gas flaring in host communities. Unless serious steps are taken by the federal government against these multinational oil companies to end gas flaring, host communities may have no choice but to take their destiny in their own hands,” he said.
He added that “the federal government should not be silent over the gas flaring when people in the region are being poisoned by black carbon emitted into the air through gas flaring. It is the responsibility of the federal government to compel multinational oil companies to abide by environmental best practices for the safety of our eco-system.”
Mulade then threatened that unless urgent steps were taken by the federal government towards ending gas flaring, his group may file a legal action against the federal government, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), multinational oil firms, and demand adequate compensation for host communities and the people of the region.