{"id":76154,"date":"2025-10-06T10:10:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T10:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=76154"},"modified":"2025-10-06T10:10:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T10:10:07","slug":"nigeria-loses-817000mmscf-of-gas-to-flaring-in-three-years-budgit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/10\/06\/nigeria-loses-817000mmscf-of-gas-to-flaring-in-three-years-budgit\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria Loses 817,000mmscf of Gas to Flaring in Three Years -BudgIT"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Omoniyi David<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nigeria flared over 817,000 million standard cubic feet (mmscf) of gas between 2021 and 2024; equivalent to more than 23 trillion litres of potential energy, according to data released by civic-tech organisation BudgIT Nigeria.<\/p>\n

Experts who spoke with Daily Independent said the wasted gas could have generated over 110,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity, enough to power more than 10,000 Nigerian homes for an entire year.<\/p>\n

Gas flaring; the burning of excess natural gas during oil production has remained one of Nigeria\u2019s most persistent environmental and economic challenges, despite repeated government efforts to curb the practice.<\/p>\n

Successive administrations have introduced policies and regulations to end gas flaring, but weak enforcement, overlapping regulatory mandates, and insufficient political will have hindered progress.<\/p>\n

Among key interventions was the 2005 Federal High Court ruling declaring gas flaring illegal and a violation of human rights. Subsequent administrations under Presidents Umaru Musa Yar\u2019Adua (2008) and Goodluck Jonathan (2011) also set deadlines to end the practice, but none were achieved.<\/p>\n

The Gas Flaring Prohibition Bill (2017\u20132018) failed to pass through the National Assembly, while the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, though mandating feasibility studies for gas utilisation, still allows limited flaring for up to five years without major penalties.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the Associated Gas Re-Injection Act (AGRA), continues to permit exemptions and impose fines that experts describe as \u201ctoo minimal to deter offenders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Observers say the situation is worsened by the regulatory overlap between the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), which has weakened enforcement and monitoring efforts.<\/p>\n

Although Nigeria has introduced satellite-based monitoring systems and new transparency measures, progress remains slow and inconsistent.<\/p>\n

The federal government has now set a 2030 target to end routine gas flaring, in line with its global climate commitments and energy transition agenda. Several public-private initiatives, including the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP), national methane emission guidelines, and flare reduction targets are underway to encourage the conversion of flare gas into electricity and other productive uses.<\/p>\n

However, experts warn that without stronger enforcement, stiffer penalties, and improved community participation, the country may once again miss its targets.<\/p>\n

They stress that only through full implementation of existing laws, compensation for affected communities, and acceleration of ongoing gas utilisation projects can Nigeria curb losses and mitigate the health and environmental toll of unchecked gas flaring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Omoniyi David   Nigeria flared over 817,000 million standard cubic feet (mmscf) of gas between 2021 and 2024; equivalent to more than 23 trillion litres of potential energy, according to data released by civic-tech organisation BudgIT Nigeria. Experts who spoke with Daily Independent said the wasted gas could have generated over 110,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":76155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1720,172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76156,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76154\/revisions\/76156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}