Roy-Omoni V. Ogaga
Just a couple of days ago, the UN sounded what could be termed to be the last alarm on the time frame needed to salvage the earth from irreversible meltdown. The report said that as little as 12 years is needed to limit global warming to 1.5C by slashing global emissions by 45%. This report made the future of a developing country like Nigeria bleak as the drivers of the wheels of governance have repeatedly watched with an abysmal response, the continuous raid on the environment by IOCs.
It is still a great wonder to the world that a nation with so many abundant resources is still a great paradox as is it home to the poorest on the surface of the earth. The oil era has been a great undoing to Nigeria. We are not able to replicate the successes of the other producers especially in getting the true value of the commodity. Instead, we have been plagued by oil spillages and dangerous flaring of gas.
Needless to say that the economic strength of gas as an energy source is so powerful that Russia has used her extensive investment in the gas network to trade with Europe.
What is seen here in Nigeria is an improper and obsolete system of production. Nigeria is known to be the nation that is among the worst in gas flaring, which is due to low investment in the gas network. No adequate system is on the ground to evacuate associated gas from the separator at the flow stations, an act that costs the nation millions of dollars yearly.
The constant release of CO2 into the air from natural gas is one of the causes of the dark soot, a polycyclic aromatic compound that has enveloped the port Harcourt axis of the Niger Delta. The annual rainfall has greatly extended distorting the climate of the nation, which is seen in the flooding that has taken over 9 states of the federation.
What we hear is the cash calls with the JVs which to many is a worthy feat considering the reduction of the 2016 cash- calls by $1.7B. This same multinationals randomly flare their gas, destroying the ecosystem at the same time not fully declaring the amount produced from their own direct wells.
A further highlight is that JV is a joint partnership arrangement between the NNPC and the operators. The profit is shared on a percentage ratio based on their composition. The Ministry of Petroleum is littered with departments meant to oversee these assets and effect strict environmental compliance yet very culpable in the area of violation of the sanctity of the environment by these IOCs.
The major reason is incompetence on the part of the Petroleum ministry. Otherwise, how could a man just watch continually, the destruction of his fellow man as well as the environment in which he, the Marauder also draws his sustenance from?
Some official must be slumbering, to see these IOCs flare gas which they cannot even dare to do in other countries but readily do it in the Niger Delta because the penalty is never enforced to the letter. Under the newly rolled-out policy of the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialization Programme (NGFCP), the present penalty of $0.03 was increased for production of 10,000bbls to $2.5 per thousand standard cubic feet.
However, one is not excited by it as the policy enforcer, the Department Of Petroleum Resources (DPR) is yet to give the nation a good account of herself in their oversight duties.
The DPR, an arm of the NNPC is saddled with the statutory responsibility of ensuring compliance with petroleum laws, regulations, and guidelines in the Oil and gas industry. Unfortunately, over the years, it has turned into the greatest enemy of the state as politicians and successive MDs have used it to circumvent the nation repeatedly.
Otherwise, how does one explain the fact that the regulator does not have an adequate log of flaring and crude oil production taking place in the Niger Delta even when the lowest of novices know that there is metering equipment indicating daily production logs! It is still fresh on the mind of Nigerians the series of fire incidents the DPR has recorded in time past as a carnal way of preventing scrutiny of their books.
The change we need is an overhaul of the whole department especially the section responsible for gas monitoring! The DPR is meant to be the champion of the Petroleum Industry Bill which shows in clear terms, the regulation and operations of the oil and gas industry without recourse to unworkable laws which are poorly enforced.
We keep wondering the reason why the judiciary on her part has not fully exercised her rights as an interpreter of the law to compel the executive to speedily implement the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill recently passed by the National Assembly.
The nation presently is inundated with the noise of election that it has failed to see the doom in-waiting, which ordinarily had been attributed to the Niger-Delta. But today, the world is sitting on the precipice and the continual denial of the health, economy, and energy of the Niger Delta has come back to haunt the nation.
It is no more vision 2020 or 2030, as we are known to be infested with leaders who take joy in procrastination. Time is no longer on the side of the nation to get salvaged from this present danger of global meltdown. Everyone must be conscious of the fact, that if we must survive as a people, then we must actively abide by the Treaties we have committed to.
Nigeria being a party to the Paris Climate Change Agreement must wake up from this great slumber and indeed criminalize gas flaring in the country rather than looking for paltry penalties which are never paid.
All Nigerians must rise up and ensure that the new crop of political office seekers must be men of proven competence in responding to the challenges of the people.
Everybody has a role to play and must be held accountable as the time for blame games are over. It is time to preserve and conserve life by acting more responsibly in our dealings with our physical environment.
