The Petroleum Industry Bill 2020: Examining Provisions For The Environment, Host Communities And Accountability

The Muhammadu Buhari government submitted the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in late 2020 to the National Assembly as a revision of previous versions by the Umaru Musa Yar’dua and Goodluck Jonathan administrations. This briefing paper shows that, as proposed, the PIB 2020 is inadequate to address the environmental, human rights and livelihoods concerns of host communities, as the Executive Bill focuses more on production and commercial viability of the industry.

While Nigeria records the highest and unacceptable levels of crude oil spills globally, and the country is among the worst in gas flaring globally, the PIB 2020 fails woefully in addressing these issues. There is no clear provision for addressing environmental pollution and sanctioning polluters. The Bill fails to introduce any new measures to encourage the elimination of routine gas flaring. The PIB 2020 disempowers federal and state environmental agencies from the monitoring and enforcement of environmental regulations in the petroleum industry. Read more