ERA/FoEN commends Senate’s ban on gas flaring

Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has commended the Senate’s unanimous adoption of the bill for an Act to Prohibit Gas Flaring in Nigeria.

Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Godwin Ojo, in a statement yesterday in Lagos, described the Senate’s decision as a bold move after years of policy summersaults on flare-out dates and tokenism that left the economy reeling and communities in subhuman conditions.

He stated: “The bill prohibiting gas flaring in Nigeria is timely and welcome, not only in the Niger Delta communities where there are over 200 flare sites gassing the existence out of the natives, but also to the global environmental justice movement that have consistently condemned this practice.”

The bill, sponsored by Senator Bassey Akpan, representing Akwa Ibom North-East, which passed second hearing in 2017, seeks to ensure that natural gas is not flared or vented in any oil and gas production operation, bloc or field, or onshore or gas facility.