Though Nigeria produced an estimated 170 trillion cubic feet of gas, more than 70% is flared off. After Russia, Nigeria flares the most gas in the world. Between 2012 and 2020, Nigeria flared over 1.5 billion standard cubic feet of its natural gas. During the process of flaring gas within those years, about 82 million tonnes of CO2 was emitted. For the quantity of CO2 emitted, Nigeria Gas Flare Tracker estimated that ideally, oil companies engaged in gas flaring should pay about $3.2bn as a penalty. That’s 1.152 trillion naira, which is enough to cover for the coronavirus induced 1 trillion naira intervention by the Central Bank. It could have cushioned 77 percent of the 1.5 trillion naira cut that the 2020 budget is witnessing.
Gas flaring is a major environmental concern facing the world as it generates a significant amount of greenhouse gases which contribute to the overall burden of global warming. Flaring of gases also causes environmental degradation. It contributes to global warming, causes climate change, affects environmental quality and impacts on the health of individuals in the vicinity of the flares. Exposure to air pollutants released by gas flaring has been linked to cancer and lung damage, as well as neurological and reproductive problems. Gas flaring also impacts on a nation’s revenue. It causes loss of funds and revenue which could have been realized if gas was conserved rather than flared.
From the available data on Nigeria Gas Flare Tracker, the quantity of gas flared between 2012 and 2020 has the potential to generate about 155,800GWh of electricity. In simple language, this means that an additional 1,912MW; 2,134MW; 2,351MW; 1,906MW; 2,066MW; 1940MW; 2,739MW; 2728MW could have been added to Nigeria’s national grid in 2012; 2013; 2014; 2015; 2016; 2017; 2018; and 2019 respectively. This additional power generation could have significantly improved Nigeria’s electricity outlook that staggers to produce a meagre 11,165.4MW of electricity to serve a population of over 200 million people.
Oil-rich regions in Nigeria where gas is flared suffer different forms of pollution and degradation. Literature indicates that decrease in agricultural yield, deformities in children, liver damage and skin problems, increasing concentrations of airborne pollutants, acidification of soils and rainwater, and corrosion of metal roofs are some of the detrimental impacts of gas flaring in Nigeria. Moreover, the subject is commonly connected with other series of livelihood and socio-economic problems in Nigeria.
In addition to the health risk associated with gas flaring and the immediate impacts on the states were the flaring occurs is the huge revenue loss to Nigeria. For instance, the value for the flared gas within the nine-year was about $5.4 bn. Disaggregated, the revenue loss comes to $594.5 million, $889.9 million, and $836.4 million for 2017, 2018, and 2019 respectively. By implication, at an exchange rate of ₦305 to $1, Nigeria lost ₦181bn, ₦271bn, and ₦255bn in each of these three years to gas flaring.
Describing it as it is: an empirical outlook to gas flaring in Nigeria
Given the associated health risks and livelihood challenges around gas flaring, available data from Nigeria Gas Flare Tracker was also analyzed to show the quantity of gas flared in the different states of Nigeria. The data indicated that most of the gas flared in Nigeria are flared in Delta, Rivers, and Bayelsa States. Anambra, Abia, and Kaduna States have the least quantity of flared gas in the country. The figure below presents the quantity of gas flared in the nine identified states where gas is being flared. 
Tackling the Challenge by Regulation: Nigeria’s Flare Gas Regulations, 2018
In 2018, the Nigerian President who doubles as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, signed the Flare Gas (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulations, 2018 into law. The regulations seek to minimize the environmental and social impact caused by flaring natural gas, protect the environment, prevent waste of natural resources and create social and economic benefits from gas flare capture. The regulations vested the Federal Government with the right to take all flared gas free of cost at the flare without payment of royalty. Also, the Federal Government was vested with the power to administer the bid process for flare gas. The law prohibited flaring of Natural Gas and stipulated payment as punishment for flaring gas. It established penalties for gas flaring in Nigeria.
While a report by the Center for Clean Air Policy indicated that Nigeria quietly cut gas flaring by 70% and that the country is moving to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, data gathered from the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA through its gas flare tracker does not show the same. Rather, the gas flare tracker shows that gas flaring only decreased marginally in 2019. With the fact that about 41.1 million standard cubic feet of gas was flared between January and February this year, a total gas flare of 246 million standard cubic feet may be envisaged for 2020.
By implication, two years after the signing of the Flare Gas Law of 2018, available data indicates that no appreciable improvement has met the gas flaring situation in Nigeria. From the figures below, gas flaring has neither reduced significantly since 2018 nor has CO2 emission significantly dropped since the introduction of the Flare Gas Laws.
Towards better natural gas utilization in Nigeria
Passage of the Flare Gas Law of 2018 into law shows that the Federal Government has some understanding of the detrimental impacts of gas flaring. The content of the law also shows that the Nigerian Government understands the revenue potentials of the country’s natural gas wealth. However, although the law has the creation of social and economic benefits from gas flare capture in its purview, it does not directly address harnessing the power potential of the natural resource.
Within the current gas flaring regulatory framework, the Federal Government should mobilize the requisite political will to implement the provisions of the law. The stipulated penalties for gas flaring should be implemented on non-adherent oil companies. In addition, efforts should be made to implement some of the other provisions of the law especially those relating to reporting of gas flaring and those on gas utilization.
The Government may also attempt to incentivize the utilization of natural gas for power generation. Agreements and concessions can be reached between oil companies and the government to ensure that the power potentials of natural gas are harnessed. Also, gas processing facilities can be developed to fully exploit the revenue potentials of Nigeria’s natural gases.
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