Gas Flaring and Environmental Protection in Nigeria: Assessing the Effectiveness of Existing Legal Frameworks

Abstract

One of the environmental challenges plaguing industrialised nations worldwide is gas flaring. The World Bank has flagged gas flaring as an emergency predicament capable of leading to the breakdown of human development and environmental sustainability if no appropriate action is taken. Nigeria today remains a major producer of crude oil, situating it within the red zone for climate impact. Gas flaring in Nigeria represents a critical intersection of environmental degradation, economic waste, energy poverty, and human rights violations. Despite decades of regulatory promises to achieve “zero routine flaring,” the practice persists in Nigeria, especially across the Niger Delta. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of Nigeria’s current legal frameworks, focusing on the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 and the 2023 Gas Flaring, Venting and Methane Emissions Regulations. By balancing an environmental protection lens with economic energy-security policies, this study examines whether market-driven commercialisation frameworks can successfully protect frontline communities in Nigeria. Analysing landmark judicial precedents alongside empirical data from the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), the paper exposes structural bottlenecks, including poor enforcement, infrastructure deficits, and constitutional hurdles to justiciability. The study concludes with actionable, institutional recommendations to transform Nigeria’s flare-to-value initiatives into enforceable environmental protections.

Keywords: Environment, environmental sustainability, human rights, economy, gas flaring, health, energy.

1. Introduction

Nigeria stands as one of Africa’s largest oil producers, yet its extraction processes and methods remain tethered to the environmentally ruinous practice of gas flaring. Gas flaring is the intentional burning of natural gas associated with crude oil extraction, and it releases millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide, methane, and hazardous particulates into the atmosphere yearly. For over five decades, this practice has placed Nigeria among the world’s top gas-flaring nations, turning the host communities of the Niger Delta into environmental sacrifice zones. Gas flaring is a conversation as old as the Cinderella tale. It happens during production or industrial activities at oil rigs, refineries, and similar facilities. As a result of this flaring, not only are enormous amounts of carbon dioxide and methane released into the air, but the country also loses huge amounts of potential revenue that would have been earned from utilizing the gas.¹

Generally, gas flaring is an operational waste of energy resources in the petroleum sector that encourages greenhouse gas emissions.² This is in violation of the 1992 United Nations Convention on Climate Change and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which call on governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the oil sector.³ Gas flaring occurs in refineries, chemical plants, oil rigs, and landfills through the burning off of flammable gas. It also occurs when oil companies burn off the extra gas that escapes due to oil drilling and other oil-related activities in the sector.

This issue presents a pronounced paradox. Nigeria suffers from endemic energy poverty, with an electrical grid plagued by constant collapses and a total generation capacity of around a meagre 4,500 megawatts for over 200 million people. Despite this, the country routinely burns away the exact resource required to fuel its thermal power plants.

Historically, the legal regime governing this crisis was fragmented, relying on outdated, decades-old statutes and nominal fines that International Oil Companies (IOCs) treated merely as production costs. The enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 and the subsequent Gas Flaring, Venting and Methane Emissions Regulations 2023 promised a paradigm shift. This new legal framework transitions from a purely punitive model to a commercial, market-driven policy aimed at monetizing flare gas through the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP).

2. Research Question & Objective

This paper critically evaluates the effectiveness of these newly updated legal frameworks. It addresses a fundamental question: Can a commercialisation-driven energy policy successfully deliver environmental protection and uphold human rights in Nigeria? By exploring the legal intersections of energy law, environmental law, and constitutional human rights, this paper assesses the structural barriers preventing Nigeria from achieving its climate pledge of zero routine gas flaring by 2030.

3. Evolution of the Legal and Regulatory Framework

Nigeria’s anti-gas flaring regime cuts across several decades, moving from early military decrees to modern commercialisation architecture.

1. The Associated Gas Re-injection Act of 1979: This Act was among Nigeria’s earliest environmental protection laws, curbing pollution from flaring that caused health problems such as respiratory diseases, asthma, and acid rain in oil-producing regions like the Niger Delta. It encouraged gas utilization for energy, supporting economic diversification and sustainability, though enforcement challenges persisted, highlighting the need for resource efficiency in Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy.
2. Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended): Section 20 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)⁴ provides for the responsibility of the State to protect and improve the environment and safeguard the air, water, land, forests, and wildlife of Nigeria. When section 20 is read together with sections 4 and 13 of the CFRN, it can be interpreted as an express mandate for the State to prevent and stop harmful environmental practices such as gas flaring that cause air pollution, deforestation, and other negative impacts on the environment affecting human health. The State is therefore under an obligation to execute and enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting gas flaring and to ensure that oil companies operating in Nigeria comply with applicable environmental regulations and standards⁵ — though, as discussed in the Recommendations section, this obligation currently sits on uncertain constitutional footing.
3. The Flare Gas Reduction (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulation 2018: This legal framework centres on reducing the environmental and social impact caused by gas flaring, protecting the environment, preventing the waste of natural resources, and creating social and economic benefits from flare gas capture. It affirmed the right of the government, under section 9 of the Petroleum Act, to take natural gas produced with crude oil free of cost at the flare site and without payment of royalty.⁶ This regulation applies to all petroleum licences, including marginal fields. It also outlined bid processes and the penalties for the supply of inaccurate data by a producer of flared gas.⁷
4. The Petroleum Industry Act 2021: The PIA explicitly prohibits the flaring of natural gas, except under exceptional circumstances approved by the Commission (such as emergencies or safety operations). It mandates that penalties collected from flaring be redirected toward environmental remediation, protection, and community development in the host areas. Section 102(1)–(6) of the PIA 2021 requires a licensee or lessee engaged in upstream and midstream petroleum operations to submit an environmental management plan — for projects requiring an environmental impact assessment — to the Authority for approval, within one year of the effective date or six months after the grant of the applicable licence or lease. The environmental management plan must conform to extant environmental laws, and the Authority will approve it if it complies with the relevant environmental law and the applicant has demonstrated the capacity to rehabilitate and manage the negative environmental impacts of its operations. Section 103(1)–(2) of the Act further requires a financial contribution to an environmental remediation fund set up by the Authority for the restoration or management of negative environmental impacts, as a prerequisite for the award of the oil licence or lease and before approval of the environmental management plan.⁸

4. The Core Intersection: Environmental Protection and Energy Security

The gas flaring dilemma cannot be analyzed within an environmental vacuum; it is fundamentally an issue of energy policy and resource mismanagement.

The Energy-Environment Paradox

Empirical tracking via the NOSDRA Gas Flare Tracker reveals that Nigeria flares roughly 200 to 300 billion standard cubic feet (scf) of gas annually.⁹ If this wasted resource were properly captured and redirected into the domestic gas-to-power value chain, it could generate an additional 3,000 to 3,500 megawatts of clean electricity. This would nearly double the nation’s available power grid capacity.¹⁰

Instead of driving economic growth, the burning of this natural resource causes severe environmental damage:

• Atmospheric Pollution: The combustion process releases immense concentrations of methane and carbon dioxide, accelerating both localized heat generation and global climate change.
• Acid Rain: Sulphur and nitrogen oxides mix with atmospheric moisture, creating acid rain that corrodes local infrastructure and strips agricultural soil of nutrients.
• Thermal Pollution: Continuous heat from flare stacks alters micro-climates, destroying biodiversity and driving away local wildlife.

The “Transition Fuel” Legal Dilemma

Nigeria’s National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) formally establishes natural gas as the nation’s strategic “transition fuel.”¹¹ This policy creates a sharp legal tension. While international environmental standards demand a rapid shift toward fully renewable sources like solar and wind, Nigerian energy policy focuses heavily on expanding natural gas infrastructure to substitute for dirtier crude oil products such as diesel and petrol.¹²

Therefore, current legal frameworks do not seek to eliminate gas extraction. Instead, they treat gas commercialisation as a form of environmental protection.¹³ The law attempts to mitigate an environmental crisis by converting a harmful waste product into domestic commercial energy, such as autogas, LPG, and compressed natural gas.¹⁴

5. Evaluation of Extant Legal Frameworks and Economic Policies

Evaluating the effectiveness of Nigeria’s anti-flaring regime requires analyzing its legislative history, its transition into the PIA era, and the economic policies designed to incentivize compliance.

Legacy Failures: The Associated Gas Re-injection Act 1979

For over forty years, the primary anti-flaring statute was the Associated Gas Re-injection Act of 1979.¹⁵ This law failed because it included a significant loophole: it allowed oil companies to continue flaring if they obtained a discretionary ministerial certificate.¹⁶ Furthermore, the financial penalties for unauthorized flaring were set at nominal rates ($0.50 to $2.00 per 1,000 scf). Because these fines were so low, oil companies found it far more profitable to pay the penalties than to invest in the expensive infrastructure needed to capture and reinject the gas.¹⁷

The Modern Regime: The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021

The PIA 2021 officially repealed these outdated laws and introduced a comprehensive fiscal structure.¹⁸

• Sections 104–107: These sections clearly prohibit the routine flaring of natural gas, carving out narrow exceptions only for emergency safety maneuvers or specific exemptions granted by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).¹⁹
• Non-Tax-Deductible Penalties: Crucially, section 104(4) states that environmental fines imposed for gas flaring cannot be used as tax-deductible business expenses. This forces oil companies to pay penalties directly out of their net corporate profits, creating a genuine economic deterrent.²⁰
• The Midstream Gas Infrastructure Fund: Rather than disappearing into general government accounts, the PIA mandates that flaring penalties be channelled into this specialized fund. The capital is directly allocated to building the domestic processing plants and pipeline networks required to bring flare gas into the domestic energy market.²¹

Economic Commercialisation Policies: The NGFCP

The Gas Flaring, Venting and Methane Emissions (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulations 2023 provide the operational teeth for the PIA. Under these regulations, the Federal Government exercises its legal right to take all flare gas free of charge at the flare stack.²²

Through the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP), the NUPRC auctions off these flare sites to qualified third-party commercial investors.²³ These companies are granted legal permits to capture the wasted gas, process it, and sell it commercially.²⁴ This market-driven approach harnesses private capital to solve an environmental issue, transforming a liability into a profitable, job-creating asset.²⁵

Human Rights Impacts and Judicial Jurisprudence

The legal analysis of gas flaring must look beyond corporate balance sheets to examine the human costs borne by frontline communities.

Human Rights Violations in Frontline Communities

Gas flaring greatly and systematically violates the fundamental human rights of Nigerians:

• Right to Health and Life: Non-stop exposure to toxic emissions leads to chronic respiratory diseases, asthma, leukemia, and premature death, directly breaching the constitutional right to life.²⁶
• Right to an Adequate Livelihood: Acid rain severely damages local crop yields, destroys freshwater fisheries, and corrodes the zinc roofs of residential homes. This undermines communities’ economic self-sufficiency and violates their right to human dignity.²⁷

6. Analysis of Case Law and Judicial Hurdles

The Nigerian judiciary has frequently served as a vital battleground for environmental justice, though its impact is often restricted by procedural limitations.

Jonah Gbemre v Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) & Ors (2005)

In this landmark case, the Federal High Court ruled in favor of the Iwherekan community, declaring that gas flaring violates the fundamental right to life and human dignity under sections 33 and 34 of the Nigerian Constitution.²⁸ The court ruled that the right to life must include the right to a clean, poison-free environment, and declared the flaring provisions of the old Associated Gas Re-injection Act unconstitutional.²⁹ However, the operational effectiveness of this judgment was quickly halted. Shell filed immediate appeals and secured a stay of execution, highlighting a persistent gap between progressive judicial rulings and actual enforcement by the executive branch.³⁰

Centre for Oil Pollution Watch (COPW) v NNPC (2019)

Historically, environmental lawsuits were routinely dismissed due to strict locus standi rules, which required plaintiffs to prove they were uniquely and directly harmed beyond the general public. In COPW v NNPC, the Supreme Court removed this barrier by expanding locus standi in environmental matters.³¹ The ruling allows public-interest NGOs to sue corporate polluters on behalf of harmed ecosystems, explicitly affirming that the constitutional right to life includes an enforceable right to a clean and healthy environment.³²

SERAP v Federal Republic of Nigeria (ECOWAS Court, 2012)

To bypass the limitations of domestic courts, litigants have successfully leveraged regional bodies. In this case, the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice ruled that the Nigerian government’s failure to properly regulate oil companies and prevent environmental pollution violated Article 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the right to a general satisfactory environment).³³ Because Nigeria has fully domesticated the African Charter, this international human rights standard serves as a binding tool that bypasses the non-justiciable environmental clauses in Chapter II of the Nigerian Constitution.³⁴

7. Recommendations

To transform Nigeria’s legal promises into genuine environmental protection and energy security, the country must enact targeted structural reforms:

• Abolish the Justiciability Barrier: Amend section 6(6)(c) of the 1999 Constitution to make the environmental objectives listed under section 20 fully justiciable, allowing citizens to sue the state directly for environmental neglect.³⁵
• Enforce Strict Separation of Regulatory Duties: Remove the NUPRC and federal regulatory bodies from any operational dependence on Ministry of Petroleum revenues, to eliminate conflicts of interest within state-owned oil joint ventures.
• Protect Remediation Funds from Diversion: Enforce strict legal boundaries to ensure that all revenues collected from flaring fines are funnelled exclusively into the Midstream Gas Infrastructure Fund and host community trusts for direct environmental clean-ups, blocking any diversion into general federal budgetary accounts.
• Establish Automated Independent Monitoring: Deploy independent, satellite-linked remote sensing technologies across all flare stacks, removing the industry’s reliance on corporate self-reporting and ensuring that flaring volumes are calculated transparently.
• Fast-Track Targeted Infrastructure Credits: Introduce structured fiscal incentives, such as targeted tax credits, specifically for midstream operators who construct local gas-gathering pipelines connecting remote flare stacks directly to the national power grid.³⁶

8. Conclusion

Nigeria’s legal framework for combating gas flaring has evolved significantly, shifting from the ineffective, nominal penalty structures of the past to the commercialisation models established by the Petroleum Industry Act 2021. This modern focus on turning waste gas into a marketable energy asset offers a practical pathway to address both environmental degradation and domestic energy shortages.

Nevertheless, laws alone cannot solve an environmental crisis. The ultimate effectiveness of this updated architecture depends on overcoming deeply entrenched structural challenges: resolving conflicts of interest where the state acts as both joint-venture partner and industry regulator, building critical midstream infrastructure, and respecting judicial rulings on human rights. Nigeria will only meet its international climate goals and protect the fundamental rights of its citizens when it strictly enforces non-deductible penalties, opens the market to third-party commercial gas capture, and treats a clean environment as an undeniable human right.

Note(S):

1. Stren & Blan Partners, ‘Regulations for Investors in Gas Flaring Reduction and Utilization Projects’ (22 September 2023) https://strenandblan.com/3922/ accessed 3 June 2026.
2. Olusola Joshua Olujobi, ‘Analysis of the Legal Framework Governing Gas Flaring in Nigeria’s Upstream Petroleum Sector and the Need for Overhauling’ (2020) 9(8) Social Sciences 132 https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9080132 accessed 4 June 2026.
3. Garba I Malumfashi, ‘Phase-Out of Gas Flaring in Nigeria by 2008: The Prospects of a Multi-Win Project (Review of the Regulatory, Environmental and Socio-Economic Issues)’ (2007) 4(2) Nigeria Gas Flaring Petroleum Training Journal 1.
4. Cap C23 LFN 2004.
5. G Nnona, ‘New Policy Regime for Gas in Nigeria: A Perspective on Tax and Related Incentives’ (2003) 3 Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law 285–302.
6. ABUAD Law Review, ‘Gas Flaring in Nigeria: An Assessment of Its Environmental and Human Rights Implication’ (Djet Lawyer) https://djetlawyer.com/gas-flaring-in-nigeria-environmental-and-human-rights/ accessed 5 June 2026.
7. Ibid.
8. Olusola Joshua Olujobi, Tunde Ebenezer Yebisi, Oyinkepreye Preye Patrick and Afolabi Innocent Ariremako, ‘The Legal Framework for Combating Gas Flaring in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry: Can It Promote Sustainable Energy Security?’ (2022) 14(13) Sustainability 7626 https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137626 accessed 5 June 2026.
9. National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Nigerian Gas Flare Tracker https://www.nosdra.gasflaretracker.ng accessed 5 June 2026.
10. National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), ‘About the Data’ Nigerian Gas Flare Tracker https://www.nosdra.gasflaretracker.ng/data.html accessed 5 June 2026.
11. Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, National Gas Expansion Programme https://ngexpansionprogramme.com accessed 5 June 2026.
12. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Paris Agreement (adopted 12 December 2015, entered into force 4 November 2016).
13. National Gas Policy (2017).
14. Petroleum Industry Act 2021, ss 104–107.
15. Associated Gas Re-Injection Act 1979, Cap A25 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004.
16. Associated Gas Re-Injection Act 1979, s 3.
17. World Bank, Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report (various editions), worldbank.org, accessed 5 June 2026.
18. Petroleum Industry Act 2021.
19. Petroleum Industry Act 2021, ss 104–107.
20. Petroleum Industry Act 2021, s 104(4).
21. Petroleum Industry Act 2021, ss 52–54 and related funding provisions.
22. Gas Flaring, Venting and Methane Emissions (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulations 2023.
23. Ibid.
24. Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP) https://ngfcp.nuprc.gov.ng accessed 5 June 2026.
25. Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP) https://ngfcp.nuprc.gov.ng accessed 5 June 2026.
26. World Health Organization, Health Effects of Air Pollution; and UNEP, Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland (2011).
27. UNEP, Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland (2011).
28. Jonah Gbemre v Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Ltd and Others (2005) AHRLR 151 (NgHC 2005).
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid.
31. Centre for Oil Pollution Watch v Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [2019] 5 NWLR (Pt 1666) 518 (SC).
32. Ibid.
33. SERAP v Federal Republic of Nigeria (2012) ECW/CCJ/JUD/18/12.
34. Ibid.
35. Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), ss 6(6)(c) and 20.
36. See generally United Nations Environment Programme, Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland (2011); and Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme Framework (2023).

Reference(S):

Legislation

Associated Gas Re-Injection Act 1979, Cap A25 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004.

Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

Gas Flaring, Venting and Methane Emissions (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulations 2023.

Petroleum Industry Act 2021.

International Instruments

Paris Agreement (adopted 12 December 2015, entered into force 4 November 2016).

Cases

Centre for Oil Pollution Watch v Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [2019] 5 NWLR (Pt 1666) 518 (SC).

Jonah Gbemre v Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Ltd and Others (2005) AHRLR 151 (NgHC 2005).

SERAP v Federal Republic of Nigeria (2012) ECW/CCJ/JUD/18/12.

Journal Articles

Malumfashi GI, ‘Phase-Out of Gas Flaring in Nigeria by 2008: The Prospects of a Multi-Win Project (Review of the Regulatory, Environmental and Socio-Economic Issues)’ (2007) 4(2) Nigeria Gas Flaring Petroleum Training Journal 1.

Nnona G, ‘New Policy Regime for Gas in Nigeria: A Perspective on Tax and Related Incentives’ (2003) 3 Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law 285.

Olujobi OJ, ‘Analysis of the Legal Framework Governing Gas Flaring in Nigeria’s Upstream Petroleum Sector and the Need for Overhauling’ (2020) 9(8) Social Sciences 132.

Olujobi OJ, Yebisi TE, Patrick OPP and Ariremako AI, ‘The Legal Framework for Combating Gas Flaring in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry: Can It Promote Sustainable Energy Security?’ (2022) 14(13) Sustainability 7626.

Government Policies and Official Documents

Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP).

National Gas Policy 2017.

Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme Framework (2023).

Reports

United Nations Environment Programme, Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland (UNEP 2011).

World Bank, Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report (various editions).

World Health Organization, Health Effects of Air Pollution.

Websites and Online Sources

ABUAD Law Review, ‘Gas Flaring in Nigeria: An Assessment of Its Environmental and Human Rights Implication’ (Djet Lawyer) https://djetlawyer.com/gas-flaring-in-nigeria-environmental-and-human-rights/ accessed 5 June 2026.

Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, ‘National Gas Expansion Programme’ https://ngexpansionprogramme.com accessed 5 June 2026.

National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), ‘About the Data’ Nigerian Gas Flare Tracker https://www.nosdra.gasflaretracker.ng/data.html accessed 5 June 2026.

National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Nigerian Gas Flare Tracker https://www.nosdra.gasflaretracker.ng accessed 5 June 2026.

Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, ‘Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP)’ https://ngfcp.nuprc.gov.ng accessed 5 June 2026.

Stren & Blan Partners, ‘Regulations for Investors in Gas Flaring Reduction and Utilization Projects’ (22 September 2023) https://strenandblan.com/3922/ accessed 3 June 2026.