This policy brief details advice to policy makers on building a coherent gas flaring policy in light of ongoing energy sustainability challenges in the country

Aigbe, Godwin

Cotton, Matthew

Stringer, Lindsay

English

Teeside University's Research Repository

Gas flaring near people’s homes in a local host community, Otu JeremiCommunity, Ughelli, Delta State. The challengeThe unnecessary flaring of natural gas impacts public and environmental health, contributes to climatechange, wastes fuel resources, and impacts public and environmental health. Gas flaring management isoften complicated by conflicts among different levels of governance, particularly in the Global South.This is due to centralised governments with strict personal rules, rent-seeking, resource curse, lack oftransparency and failure in the overall design and implementation of gas flaring policies and lack ofcoherence in the legislative and regulatory framework. Though reducing flaring is an emergent globalenvironmental governance priority, progress has been slow.Nigeria is Africa's largest oil-producing country, with proven crude oil of 37.0 billion barrels and 200.4 Tcfof natural gas reserves, positioning the country as the largest natural gas reserve. Fossil fuels accountfor over 80% of government revenues, 95% of export receipts, and 90% of foreign exchange earnings.Between 2008 and 2022, Nigeria flared 147.9 billion cubic metres (Bcm) of natural gas, which couldmeet the electricity demand in Africa for approximately one and a half years. Despite this, high energypoverty levels persist while gas flaring wastes a valuable resource that could be used for energygeneration or other industrial purposes. From an environmental governance perspective, the situation inNigeria remains paradoxical and environmentally unjust.Research Questionsi. Who are the main actorsinvolved in Nigeria’s multilevelgovernance system pertainingto oil and gas governance?ii. To what extent are gas flaringawareness and policycoherence across gas andenergy domains?iii. How can the implications forprogress towards Nigeria’snational intended contributionand national policy on climatechange mitigation beassessed?MethodsData were collected through semi-structured interviews withseven experts, consisting of four representatives fromenvironmental NGOs and advocacy groups, as well as threeenvironmental campaigners, expert surveys (23 experts outof the 59 contacted responded and completed the survey viaemail), literature reviews, and analysis of Nigerian policydocuments using qualitative document analysis (QDA) on gasflaring, energy, and other sectors.Policy BriefDecember 2023 PB001Building Coherent Gas Flaring Policy in NigeriaResearch aimThis research aimed to analyseNigeria's multilevel governancesystem and assess the policycoherence across gas flaring andenergy sectors.While this research focused on Nigeria, the emerging recommendations are relevant for advancing effective gas flaring reduction mechanisms more widely. They could be used as a benchmark in other countries, particularly countries in the Global South, with limited research and inadequate environmental management. It can also enhance gas flaring policies and regulatory frameworks for policymakers and the Nigerian government to guide and support current and future policy development.This policy brief is based on a paper published as follows:Aigbe, G. O., Stringer, L. C., & Cotton, M. (2023). Gas Flaring in Nigeria: A Multi-level Governance and Policy Coherence Analysis. Anthropocene Science, 2 (1): 31-47. https://doi.org/10.1007/S44177-023-00045-5For more details about the project, please contact: Godwin Aigbe: gaigbe01@googlemail.comProfessor Lindsay Stringer: lindsay.stringer@york.ac.ukProfessor Matthew Cotton: m.cotton@tees.ac.uk.Policy recommendations1. There is an urgent need for coordinatedhorizontal governance to involve a greaterarray of stakeholder voices, strengthening thevarious federal institutions unswayed bypolitical interference and biased or partisanpolicies that consistently sustain policies andregulations despite the election cycle topromote policy coherence to reduce theinconsistency across sectors revealed in ouranalysis.2. To reduce policy conflicts and improveawareness of gas flaring, a collaborative policyframework mainstreaming relevant sectorsand mobilising political will to stop gas flaringis crucial.3. The Nigerian government should avoidrepeatedly changing the target date for endinggas flaring due to economic interests. Suchactions create ambiguity around the overallgoals and undermine any progress madetowards Nigeria's INDC and national policy onclimate change mitigation.4. Economic diversification to avoid heavydependency on oil and gas revenue andsteering policy implementation in gas flaringmanagement in a complex MultilevelGovernance (MLG) structure that involvescollaboration between various actors from thepublic, private, subnational, and supranationalspheres working at different levels provide acrucial pathway for progress.Key findings• This research identified the principal actorsinvolved in Nigeria's gas flaring management.It further showed that Nigeria's oil and gasgovernance operates under a fragmentedgovernance structure with unclear leadership.Political dynamics and lack of political will toimplement gas flaring reduction policies posea challenge.• Qualitative document analysis (QDA) and thesemi-structured interview findings showedthat policy coherence around gas flaring(including efforts toward climate changemitigation) has been slowed by politicalpartisanship, poor governance, lack ofregulatory compliance, and policy conflictbetween environmental protection andeconomic development priorities.• The expert survey data on gas flaringmanagement revealed that 45% ofrespondents perceived a disconnect betweenthe priorities and politics of local and stategovernments compared to those of thenational government. Conversely, 23%believed the priorities aligned, while 32%were uncertain.• Further examination of the survey data foundthat 53% agreed that economic policies takeprecedence over environmental policies andthe issue of gas flaring. Conversely, 33%disagreed with this view, and 14% remainedundecided. These findings highlight theexistence of ambiguity in the formulation andimplementation of plans aimed at achievingclimate change mitigation objectives.

Building Coherent Gas Flaring Policy in Nigeria:[Policy Brief]

https://research.tees.ac.uk/ws/files/77815144/Building_Coherent_Gas_Flaring_Policy_in_Nigeria.pdf

Building Coherent Gas Flaring Policy in Nigeria:[Policy Brief]

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