http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/energy/article04//indexn3_html?pdate=071009&ptitle=Legislator, expert

From Emeka Anuforo, Abuja

THE failure of Nigeria to put an end to gas flaring has been blamed on bad leadership.

Member of the House of Representatives during the Obasanjo administration, Mr. Uche Onyeagucha, who made this observation in Abuja recently, stressed that if Nigeria had good leadership in the past, gas flaring would have been stopped.

Onyeagucha's view was shared by some experts who gathered in Abuja to make recommendations on the best way of ending gas flaring and to build support for renewable energy enterprises in Nigeria .

The meeting was organised by Social Development Integrated Centre in collaboration with its partners to provide a platform that would bring voices that were passionate about gas flaring prohibition and having a sustainable energy future for Nigeria to connect.

Onyeagucha said: "If Murtala Mohammed's administration had not been cut short, it may have stopped gas flaring. Other administrations afterwards have not shown a sincere commitment to ending gas flaring in Nigeria . Most of them were just playing lip service. The house committee on energy during my time did not also help matters one bit. They could not get any legislation out on the issue."

He commended the passing of the bill to end gas flaring by the current National Assembly but doubted if the administration of President Musa Yar'Adua could actualise the dream.

He added: "If we look at it properly, we had tapped into the gas resources instead of flaring them, we would have created a lot of jobs and stopped the uprisings in the Niger Delta."

In his presentation, the Programme Coordinator of Social Development Integrated Centre, Mr. AkpoBari Celestine, stressed that ending gas flaring in Nigeria and promoting associated gas utilisation and renewable energy enterprise as a necessity to addressing global climate change and providing succour for local communities that had lived with the consequences of air and soil pollution for decades.

He also berated past leaders for their inability to end the problem.

He said: "Despite an avalanche of anti-gas flaring legislation, policy statements by government officials and commitments made by oil companies to end gas flaring, the government of Nigeria has failed to compel oil producing companies to comply with even a court ruling that declared gas flaring illegal and a gross violation of human rights."

He continued: "Gas flaring in Nigeria , which is one of the major sources of greenhouse emissions on the planet, is making the country the single largest contributor in Africa to climate change, which in turn, is presently threatening our environment especially the low lying communities in Nigeria and riverine communities in the Niger Delta. Communities in northern Nigeria are also ready suffering the impact of climate change in the form of desertification and draught."

According to him, options available to Shell and other multinational oil companies but not considered included processing the associated gas to generate energy for Nigerian communities or re-injecting the same underground.

His words: "But these options could have meant some expenses for Shell because providing energy for Nigerian communities was not an option in their books. The bulk of associated gas has not been used to address badly needed energy production and contribute to addressing poverty, infrastructural development and industrial capacity in Nigeria .

He advocated best ways of utilising associated gas that is currently flared generate power for local communities.