The House of Representatives has condemned the non-commitment of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources as well as oil and gas companies to ending the $750m annual loss to gas flaring.
They said the practice was wasting gas resources and causing environment and socio-economic havoc to the people of Niger Delta.
The Joint House Committee on Gas Resources, Environment and Climate Change organised a public hearing on the need to end gas flaring in the country in Abuja on Monday.
In his welcome address, the Chairman joint committee of the House on Gas Resources, Environment and Climate Change Committees, Mutu Nicholas, disclosed that Nigeria was losing over $750 million annually from flared gas.
He said, ‘Gas flare is a malady that we must work together to eliminate at the shortest time possible; because of its all round adverse effects on the environment and socio-economic well-being of the people of Niger Delta.
‘’At current estimates by PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC, Nigeria loses over $750 million in annual revenue from flared gas.
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Also, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, who was represented by the Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, Onofiok Luke, said though there had been many unfruitful conversations on the need to end gas flaring.
“We have gathered here today (yesterday) to fulfill the resolutions reached that day, including the charge to investigate the level of devastation caused by gas flaring and the level of regulatory compliance by multinationals in the petroleum upstream sector.
“The conversation about gas flaring in Nigeria has been going on for a long time. Unfortunately, those conversations have not yielded the desired results. We have not managed to end the environmental damage that results from gas flaring, and we are still deprived of the economic benefits of full utilisation of gas resources in our country.
“In this 9th House of Representatives, we intend to do everything we can to change this narrative. We will convene stakeholders to deliberate and resolve the policy disagreements and other issues that have mitigated against the effective utilisation of gas resources.
“Following that, we will take legislative action through bills and oversight to achieve the ambitions we hold in this regard.”
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However, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Silva, noted that gas flaring had been reduced to eight per cent, adding that by 2025, it would be completely eliminated.
He said, “The issue of gas flaring is something that the Ministry takes very seriously. There is a global consensus on the elimination of gas flaring by 2025. Today, we have reduced the issue of gas flaring to a minimum eight per cent.
“We believe, with all the programmes lined up, we are on course to achieve complete elimination of gas flaring by 2025. We take the issue of gas flaring in the ministry very seriously.”
In his remarks, the Group Managing Director, GMD, of the Nigerian National Cooperation, NNPC, Mele Kyari, said the corporation was building major trunk lines infrastructure that will receive flared gas.
According to him, no amount of penalty imposed on the oil companies for flaring gas will stop the unhealthy practice.
