The House of Representatives Committee on South South Development Commission has exposed a massive financial loss affecting Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region, revealing that the failure to implement critical Petroleum Industry Act provisions has denied the area between ₦1.27 trillion and ₦1.65 trillion in environmental cleanup funds.
Massive Financial Loss for Environmental Recovery
Committee Chairman Hon. Julius Gbabojör Pondi made the shocking revelation during an interactive session at the National Assembly, where stakeholders gathered to address the continued non-implementation of two crucial funds mandated under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
According to detailed data presented before the committee, the Abandonment and Decommissioning Fund should have accumulated between ₦850 billion and ₦1.1 trillion, while the Environmental Remediation Fund was projected to reach ₦420 billion to ₦550 billion since their establishment in 2021.
Institutional Failures and Regulatory Gaps
Pondi expressed deep concern over what he described as a serious breach of environmental justice and a direct threat to sustainable development in the Niger Delta. The funds were specifically designed to hold oil and gas companies accountable for decommissioning outdated infrastructure and rehabilitating severely degraded ecosystems.
"These funds were created to prevent the shifting of environmental liabilities to local communities. Yet, four years after the enactment of the PIA, they remain dormant, leaving farmlands polluted, rivers contaminated, fisheries depleted, and communities exposed to health hazards," Pondi stated emphatically.
The committee chair strongly criticized the regulatory bodies responsible for implementation, particularly the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), describing their lack of progress as demonstrating institutional incapacity.
Growing Calls for Structural Changes
The persistent failure to provide transparency regarding these funds has prompted serious discussions about establishing a new dedicated agency to ensure effective and accountable administration. This radical proposal comes as existing regulatory bodies continue to underperform in their responsibilities.
The interactive session brought together representatives from multiple agencies including NUPRC, NMDPRA, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), the South South Development Commission, and supervising Ministries of Petroleum and Environment. The primary goal was to develop a coordinated and credible framework for activating the dormant funds.
Pondi reaffirmed the committee's unwavering commitment to legislative oversight, insisting that the federal government must ensure that legislative instruments translate into tangible outcomes for host communities. "The National Assembly cannot continue to look away while environmental liabilities multiply and communities suffer," he declared.
The committee chairman emphasized that the era of shifting cleanup responsibilities to impoverished communities must end immediately, calling for urgent action to address what has become both an environmental and humanitarian crisis in the Niger Delta region.
