Detained leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) Henry Okah has taken the Federal Government to court, seeking to stop gas flaring in the country.
In the suit in which the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and the National Assembly are named defendants, Okah is contending that the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency Act discriminates against the oil-producing states.
Okah, who is being tried for alleged criminal conducts, argued in the suit filed at the Federal High Court, Lagos, that the National Environmental Standards and Environmental Enforcement Agency Act (enacted in July 2007) excluded the oil producing communities from its coverage areas.
In an originating summons, the plaintiff asked the court to determine whether the said law “is not illegal and unconstitutional as it has excluded oil communities in Nigeria from protection from environmental pollution and degradation”
He prayed the court to among others, declare that Section 7 “which excludes the enforcement of environmental protection law and regulations in the oil producing communities in Nigeria is discriminatory and illegal as it violates section 42 of the nation�s constitution.”
Other reliefs sought by the Plaintiff include: an order directing the defendants to restrain oil companies to desist from flaring gas in any way and an order directing the defendants to amend the said Act by removing the phrase “other than in oil and gas sector” where it is contained in the law.
In a supporting affidavit deposed to by one Wilson Ajuwa, it was argued that by virtue of Section 7 of the Act, oil producing communities in Nigeria were exposed to environmental pollution and degradation because the National Environmental Standard and Regulations Enforcement Agency cannot enforce environmental laws and regulations in the oil and gas sector.
According to him, the exemption of oil and gas sector from the coverage of the law has perpetually exposed the oil producing communities to environmental pollution and degradation.
He contended that the law was deliberately designed by the Federal Government to free oil companies from responsibility in respect of oil pollution and other cases of environmental degradation in the oil communities.He warned that unless the Act was urgently amended, to equally protect the oil producing communities from the hazardous pollution of the oil companies, “the discriminatory treatment may become another source of violent agitation in the Niger Delta”
Wondering why the Nigerian government was shielding oil companies from responsibility for environmental pollution and degradation, he noted that “the oil companies are not permitted to flare gas in other oil producing countries where they also exploit oil and gas.”