‘Use Gas Flare, Oil Pollution Fines To Compensate Victims’

A law firm Ntephe, Smith and Wills (NSW), has called for channelling of gas flare and oil pollution fines to alleviate adverse effects of oil and gas production on host communities.
It advocated a reform that would prioritise giving adequate compensations to the victims of oil and gas exploration-related pollution as a condition for collecting fines for oil pollution and gas flaring.
The Tide source reports that MrIniruo Wills, Lead Counsel for NSW, made the call at a knowledge sharing session hosted by the chamber and the Institute of the Environment Limited, in Port Harcourt.
Wills noted that over the years, oil and gas regulatory agencies were collecting fines for environmental infractions without giving a thought to the victims of the wrongdoing, noting that it was reasonable to ensure that proceeds from the fines were used for environmental conservation projects within impacted communities.
“We discovered that many times, government agencies charge fines, collect fines, for example, for gas flaring and even for other environment-related crimes and offences.
“But the victims of those offences or crimes or wrongdoings are left uncompensated,” Wills said.
Wills, an Environmental law specialist, said the trend portrayed the government in bad light, making it seem as if the government did not care about the well-being of its citizens.
“So, government then appears to the society and affected communities and individuals as insensitive and there is an urgent need to change this perception and narrative and that reform is long overdue”, he said.