By Ighodalo Joseph EJEMHEARE
The discovery and exploration of oil has had a negative environmental impact in the oil producing communities of the Niger-Delta.
The rate of environmental devastation occasioned by oil exploration cannot be overemphasized. Aubily Etekpe puts the environmental consequences of oil and gas exploration this way: “the direct consequences of oil and gas exploration in the region are frequent oil spills, blow-out, and discharge of untreated effluents directly into the water (which serves as the only source of drinking water for the people) seismic blasts and gas flaring.
Oil producing communities are therefore subjected to life threatening pollution and degradation of their environment thereby denying present and future generations a fulfilled life.
However, there are laws enacted by the government to safeguard the environment. Item 39 of the exclusive list of legislation clearly spelt out that; “Mining geological surveys and natural gas are under the exclusive list. This means that they are matters which only the federal government can legislate on.
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) is mandated to supervise the entire operations of the oil industry; section 191 of NNPC Act, 1979 mandated the DPR to ensure that Petroleum industry Operators do not devastate the environment in the cause of their operations.
DPR has been developing environmental guidelines and standards since it has been given this mandate of safeguarding the environment from the devastating effect of the oil industry.
This ranges from control of the pollutants from the various petroleum exploration, production and processing operations.
Since the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) is a branch of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), means there is no separation between regulation of the oil industry and revenue generation from the oil industry.
This is important because if the regulators withdraw oil companies’ licenses for not acting within the ambit of environmental safety standards, it will affect the revenue that will accrue to the NNPC.
Hence, the regulator will be reluctant to enforce the best international practices since the enforcement will reduce its revenue invariably. The DPR would be reluctant to enforce best environmental safety practices because enforcing these practices will reduce the income of NNPC.
When the DPR is independent, it will have the sole duty of making sure oil exploration is carried out in line with international best practices. The regulator should not have a role to play in increasing production but in ensuring that oil exploration is carried out without devastating the environment.
In Australia, after the Montana spill, the subsequent inquiry demanded a separation of regulation from raising revenue from oil.
Much the same thing happened in the United Kingdom. In the 1980s, the Department of Energy which was saddled with the responsibility of encouraging North Sea oil development, was also saddled with the responsibility of developing health, safety regime and environmental best practices.
At this time, the desire of the government was to increase production. The result was the catastrophic Piper Alpha tragedy which led to the death of 107 oil workers, resulting from human error.
The subsequent inquiry made 106 recommendations out of which the most fundamental was the decision to separate the regulation of safety from the Department of Energy to an independent regulation, the Health and Safety Executive.
The Petroleum Industry Act of 2021 put all the petroleum regulatory agencies- Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEFP) and Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) under the supervision of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) (referred to as the Authority) the new agency provides legal, governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for Nigerian Petroleum Industry as well as development for Host Communities.
It is not clear if the new petroleum reform has made petroleum regulatory agencies independent of petroleum production agencies. What is clear is that the government has succeeded in saving costs by bringing the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA and Petroleum Equalization Fund, PEF, under the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA.
The implication of this is that the halting of devastation of the environment of oil producing communities by oil companies will be a mirage.
The independence of the regulatory agency will go a long way in making oil companies adhere to international best practices in oil exploration thus minimizing the devastation of the environment occasioned by the oil industries.
EJEMHEARE wrote through ighodalo1111@gmail.com