By INIOBONG SUNDAY, Uyo
A Civil Society Organisation, CSO, committed to good governance, poverty alleviation and environmental disaster risk reduction, has alerted the Federal Government, FG, that Seplat Energy Producing Nigeria Unlimited, SEPNU, was still flaring gas in its host community of Ibeno local government area of Akwa Ibom state.
The NGO expressed concern that carbon pollution, environmental degradation and other associated issues of gas flaring have continued to make the Niger Delta region an endangered zone with the population at risk of extinction.
The Executive Director of the Network Advancement Program for Poverty and Disaster Risk Reduction, NAPPDRR, Hon. Emem Edoho, identified Splat Energy Producing Nigeria Unlimited, SEPNU, as the major culprit.
He regretted that the Nigerian firm, which recently acquired the assets of the defunct Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, MPNU, “is still continuing the tradition of gas flaring that used to characterise MPNU’s activities in, and around its host community – Ibeno LGA of Akwa Ibom State.
Speaking in an interview in Uyo, the state capital on Sunday, the civil society advocate, disclosed that the discovery followed the painstaking findings of the NAPPDRR’s undercover team around the SEPLAT’s operational areas after a letter of request under the Freedom of Information Act, FoI, had been forwarded to the SEPLAT’s management without response.
He said similar letters drawing the attention of the regulatory agencies to the outdated practice were also sent to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission ,NUPRIC, and the oil spill detection and remediation agency, NOSDRIA.
He said: “There’s the urgent need to end gas flare pollution. It’s causing severe environmental degradation and climate change. It’s affecting agricultural livelihoods, especially fish farmers because of rising water temperature. Fishes are dying in most fish ponds. Seplat Energy Producing Nigeria Unlimited, is denying flaring of gas”.
“But, our covert environmental investigation right inside Seplat Energy facility at the Qua Iboe Terminal, QIT,Vas at Friday 28th March, 2025, at 7:30 pm, according to him, “shows they are still flaring tonnes of carbon emissions”.
Hon. Edoho, who was miffed at the random flaring of gas with attendant loss of revenue and negative impacts on humans, aquatic and environmental ecosystems, lamented that the country had lost about $1.9billion Dollars in revenues do to gas flaring between 2020 and 2024, and impressed it on the federal and state governments to put tougher measures to check the menace.
“As CSOs like NAPPDRR, we cannot do it alone. We need the support of the media, nationally and globally to hold polluters like Seplat Energy accountable and transparent in their operations, and compliance with environmental regulations in line with global best practices”, he added.
He disclosed that “a recent FOI requests have been submitted to Seplat Energy and NUPRC, seeking detailed information on gas flare pollution, adding that “the request aims to uncover the extent of gas flaring activities, the environmental impacts, and the measures being taken to reduce flaring”, stressing that “this move is part of a broader effort to promote transparency and accountability in the oil and gas industry”.
A copy of the letter to SEPLAT Energy made available to Journalists reads: “We are writing to your organization, pursuant to PIA, 2021 and the Regulations, and the Freedom of Information ,FOI, Act, 2011, to write and demand for records and relevant information, data, including copy of your organization’s Environmental Management Plan concerning your oil and gas exploration activities at the QIT, in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria”.
He recalled that Nigeria had launched the Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme, GFCP, to reduce gas flaring and promote sustainable development, explaining that “the programme aimed to harness flare gas for commercial purposes, thereby reducing waste and environmental pollution”.
He, therefore, hoped that “with the NUPRC at the helm, the programme which target to end routine gas flaring by 2030 and contribute to Nigeria’s energy transition journey, could be a mirage if the federal government continues to look the other way, while the gas flaring continues in the region.
However, the General Manager, Public and Government Affairs at SEPLAT Energy, Mr. Ogechukwu Udeagha, during the recent consultative meeting with stakeholders and the commissioner for Environment and Mineral Resources, Rt. Hon. Nsikak Ekong, had assured of a seamless oil exploration activities with the host communities carried along in line with international best practices.
