We expected stiffer penalties for gas flare in PIA –Environmentalist

Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), an environmental advocacy group on Friday said the group expected stiffer penalties for gas flare in the recently signed Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

 

 

Rev Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director, HOMEF in a reaction to the President’s assent to the bill , observed that the new law lacked adequate protection for the ecosystem as it encouraged paltry fines for gas flares.

 

He noted that the group had always advocated stiff sanctions for emitting gas and a fine that is equal to the economic value of the flared gas, a development that would compel operators to end the practice..

 

  

Bassey, who holds a national honours of Member of Orderof Federal Republic (MFR) for Environmental Activism said the signing of the bill into law sent a wrong signal to the Niger Delta region.

 

“The signing of the contentious PIB into law sends a wrong signal to the oil extraction impacted peoples, communities and other Nigerians who expected a listening ear.

 

  “I had believed and expected that he would listen to the voices of Nigerians who have suffered over six decades of unmitigated ecological assault and socio-economic marginalization.

 

 “One is that it makes nonsense of Nigeria’s climate change Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

 

“It also locks in gas flaring which is a major emitter of greenhouse gases by extending a regime of insignificant fines.

 

 

“In addition, at a time when the world is shifting from fossil fuels, 30% of the profit of the NNPC would already be sunk into searching for oil field dusters or bottomless speculative search for crude oil in so-called frontier basins.” Bassey said.

 

 

He explained that HOMEF believes that the PIB will not halt the move by oil companies to shift offshore and leave the already polluted, traumatized communities without remediation.

 

According to him, oil companies are making these moves into deepwaters to escape accountability and because they will pay paltry amounts as royalties in deep waters.

 

 

“HOMEF also believes that the Host Community funds as set up will have an overbearing influence of oil companies.

 

 

“The bill gives virtually absolute powers to ride roughshod over the interest of Niger Delta communities in terms of who sets up the boards and who decides what projects get to be executed.

 

 

“Tied to this is the criminalization of communities over oil facilities incidents as communities cannot be held accountable for incidents done by individuals,” he said.

 

 

 He noted that the clause criminalizing communities appear to be inserted so as to ensure that the host communities’ funds eventually are used to pay for the irresponsible action of oil companies.

 

 

According to him, the oil firms neither carry out needed integrity checks on their facilities nor replace obsolete ones.