Ending Gas Flare In 2020, Another
FOR the umpteenth time, the hope of ending gas flaring in the Niger Delta has, once again, been rekindled as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), reaffirms Nigeria’s strategic plan to stop the menace by 2020.
But despite the renewed hope, environmental activists in the region are sceptical about government’s sincerity, especially in the light of the absence of significant infrastructure on the ground, as well as, past broken promises. NNPC’S Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, while speaking recently on the theme: “Nigeria’s Gas Flare Commercialisation, Prospects & Opportunities,” during the 50th Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), in Houston, United States of America, reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to end routine gas flaring by 2020, significantly reduced the menace.
Baru explained that Nigeria achieved the feat by a steady reduction of existing flares through a combination of targeted policy interventions in the Gas Master Plan, as well as, the re-invigoration of the flare penalty through the 2016 Nigeria Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP), and through legislation, that is, ban on gas flaring via the recent Flare Gas (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulations 2018.
It would be recalled that during the Nigeria Gas Competence Seminar in Abuja, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, had noted that the large scale occurrences of oil spills and gas flaring in the country have created a poor public and global perception of the Nigerian petroleum industry. According to him, poor environmental practices have damaged the relationships between operators and oil producing communities such that oil and gas production has become an unwelcome activity to the people of Niger Delta.
But after decades of persistent shift of deadlines to end gas flaring, environmental justice advocate, Nnimmo Bassey of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation, told The Guardian that “it would be preposterous to believe the NNPC and the minister’s assertion that Nigeria will end gas flaring in 2020, when in reality there does not exist any feasible infrastructure on ground to justify this. Besides, the history of ditching flare, our targeted dates abound, thus, trusting government at this point would tantamount to naivety.”
Bassey explained that, “gas flaring has been technically illegal in Nigeria since 1984 pursuant to Section 3 of the Associated Gas Reinjection Act, 1979. But despite all proofs that the activities of oil companies was damaging the health of the people of the Niger Delta, reducing their crop production; bringing about premature deaths and cases of leukemia; proliferation of water-borne diseases and rise in coastal zones vulnerable to sea-level rise, the government has not shown any political will to end this environmentally monstrous act.”
According to him, continuous gas flaring depicts a case of economic carelessness; lack of care for the health of the people of the Niger Delta and tackling global warming.
“Certainly gas flare will not end in 2020. The World Bank itself said 2030. 2020 it is just a number that the minister placed on it. If it ends in that year I will be surprised. No, it is not possible. We don’t see any infrastructure on the ground for that to happen. The only way it can happen is if they shut down oil production. There were efforts in the past to stop gas flaring; there were deadlines set many times; there was even a Gas Flare Prohibition Bill that was proposed. As long as the fine for gas flaring is so small, that is not equivalent to the commercial cost of gas; the companies will have no incentive to stop gas flaring. I think basically it is the question of treating the Niger Delta as a no man’s land.
“They don’t care about the environment or the people. It is a well known fact that gas flaring impacts environment in terms of acidification of the soil and waters, leading to reduction of crop yield and acid rain; you have cancers, skin diseases and the element in the gas that is being flared is very toxic. The gas is flared at very low efficiency. So, they also contribute to the soot whether they see it or not, the particulates in the air are very poisonous. We don’t place much care on the health of the people. Imagine life expectancy in the Niger Delta now is 41 years. As long as the oil brings the money they can afford to waste the gas and waste the people along with it. How can we be burning trillion naira worth of gas every year and nobody cares just because crude oil is bringing the money that is needed to fund the budget. We don’t see any indication that communities in the Niger Delta will breathe fresh air anytime soon.” he said.
The HMEF chieftain stressed that the three new strategy to end flaring by 2020 notwithstanding, “sincerity without a clear roadmap is nothing other than wishful thinking or an attempt to hoodwink the poor people that have been agitating for the obnoxious act to stop. It is really shameful that Nigeria should be flaring associated gas in this age when the negative impacts on individuals, communities and the global climate are so clearly known. Over the years, deadlines for the stoppage of gas flaring have been set through executive pronouncements and were never enforced. The oil companies also engaged in deadline setting. At a point Exxon had a target date of 2004, Chevron 2006, while Shell had 2007 as they year they would snuff out their fiery furnaces. Did they?
“In the past government set deadlines at the end of 2007, at the end of 2008 and at the end of 2010. Actually, what happened in 2009 was comical. Three deadlines were set in that year alone: while the Senate set a deadline of December 2010, the executive arm set December 2011 and