The House of Representatives has agreed to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the alleged $9.05 billion revenue loss from gas flaring activities in the country in the last 10 years.
The House gave National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) two weeks ultimatum to provide it with specified information on companies involved in flaring.
The agency is to also provide the House with the amount flared and penalty cost in the last decade for both local and international oil companies (IOCs) so as to fully recover outstanding debts.
The lawmakers also urged relevant government agencies to avoid working in silos and strengthen synergy to produce a practical and unified multi-level governance and policy coherence analysis that will stem gas flaring, protect the environment and boost energy supply.
These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hon. Ahmed Mohammed Munir from Kaduna State at plenary on Thursday.
Moving the motion, Munir said Nigeria is blessed with vast oil and natural gas resources and due to inadequate management of resources most of the natural gas is flared.
He noted that approximately $9.05 billion has been lost to gas flaring in the last decade and expressed concerns that in 2021 alone, an estimated $761.19 million was lost to gas flaring, a total of N316.5 billion monetary value would have accrued to the government if it had captured this volume and repurposed it.
Munir the amount would have financed the total expenditure for Primary Health Centres (PHCs), rural electrification projects, and the maintenance of all road and bridge projects by the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA).
He said the House is, “Aware a Report on National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA, which states that in 2022, Nigeria flared 216.5 billion standard cubic feet of gas in about eleven months despite its commitment in November 2021 to reach net zero by 2060.
“Also aware that the report states that 12 million tonnes of CO2 were emitted into the atmosphere, thus contributing to global warming while useful natural gas valued at $0.79 billion was burnt by the Nigerian oil and gas industry equivalent to the value of $450 million, many of which were said not to be collected.
“Concerned that in 2022, 22,500 Gigawatts hours of potential power generation went to waste, equivalent to the annual electricity use of 511 million Nigerian citizens.
“These have a collective figure of N227.13 billion. A breakdown shows that N24.4 billion was budgeted for PHCs, N113.96 billion for rural electrification, and N88.76 billion for FERMA.
“Worried that in 2023 the trend continues as 150billion Naira value of gas was flared within the month of January to April 2023. In the last decade, approximately $9.05 billion has been lost to gas flaring. This money would have offset 23.62 per cent of the country’s total foreign debt of $38.32 billion.”
Adopting the motion, the speaker Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, announced that the ad-hoc committee will be chaired by Hon. Munir, and 14 other lawmakers members while it will have six weeks to carryout the investigation and report back for further legislative action.
