The Renevlyn Development Initiative has called on the Nigerian government to impose an outright ban on gas flaring, warning that current penalty measures have failed to deter oil companies from continuing the environmentally harmful practice.
This is as communities in Nigeria’s Niger Delta say they are paying the price for decades of gas flaring, breathing polluted air, enduring acid rain, and watching their farmlands lose productivity.
RDI argued that operators in the Niger Delta have become comfortable paying fines rather than investing in sustainable alternatives.
The call follows recent data from the Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor, which revealed that oil companies paid an estimated $646 million in gas flaring penalties in 2025, the highest recorded in the last five years. The figures, according to RDI, highlight a troubling trend of increasing emissions despite regulatory frameworks.
The data also showed that the highest penalty on record was $934 million in 2018, when gas flared was valued at $1.6 billion. While there was a decline in flaring between 2020 and 2022, the trend has reversed since 2023, raising concerns among environmental advocates.
Further breakdown of the data indicates that flared gas volumes stood at 349.3 million standard cubic feet (SCF) in 2020, dropping to 264.6 million SCF in 2021 and 230.1 million SCF in 2022, before rising again to 278.3 million SCF in 2023 and 301.3 million SCF in 2024.
The Executive Director of RDI, Philip Jakpor, criticized the government’s framing of the penalties as revenue gains. “The increase in payment of the penalties should not be viewed in terms of revenue as the Nigerian government wants us to see it” he said.
“It should not be a cause for celebration. What it shows is that the oil companies are very comfortable paying what the government portrays as humongous sums rather than saving our environment and people from the toxic emissions,” Jakpor added.
He further argued that the current penalty rate of $2.00 per 1,000 SCF remains insufficient to drive meaningful change, describing it as ineffective in curbing environmental violations. According to him, decades of missed deadlines to end gas flaring since 1984 demonstrate a systemic failure in enforcement.
Jakpor also raised concerns about the human and environmental cost of continued gas flaring, stressing that affected communities bear the brunt of the impact. “Communities living side by side these polluting facilities carry the biggest burdens in form of constant heat, acid rain, poor farm yields, and the health impacts of inhaling methane and other toxic chemicals,” he said.
He criticized successive governments for prioritizing revenue over public health and environmental protection, noting that the broader implications of gas flaring on climate change and local livelihoods are often overlooked in policy decisions.
The RDI Executive Director questioned Nigeria’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2060, stating that continued reliance on penalty-based regulation undermines the country’s climate goals. He insisted that a fundamental policy shift is required.
“A genuine and just energy transition must be built on cutting emission at source rather than encouraging the fossil fuels industry to continue business as usual,” Jakpor said.
He reiterated the organisation’s position that only a complete ban on gas flaring will address the issue effectively. “An end to gas flaring is what we want to celebrate, not increased revenue from penalties,” he added.
