Environmentalists, civil society groups, and community reps from Niger Delta have stepped up calls for the Federal Government to urgently review Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) with a focus on setting an official deadline to stop gas flaring. This demand was a key outcome from the Climate Justice Assembly held in Benin City, led by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF).
The groups condemned the current PIA provisions as unfair, allowing gas flaring to continue without proper accountability and unjustly holding communities responsible for pipeline protection. They urged the National Assembly to remove regulatory agencies’ power to issue gas-flaring permits and instead legislate a firm end-date for routine flaring, allowing exemptions only for rare emergencies.
They also called for fines equal to the market value of flared gas to finance host community projects, scrapping laws that criminalize community protests and shifting control of development funds from oil firms to affected communities.
Referencing the 2011 UNEP report on Ogoniland’s toxic legacy, activists demanded immediate clean-up and reparations for 64 years of environmental damage, along with reforms and transparency at the Niger Delta Development Commission.
Dr. Nnimmo Bassey of HOMEF emphasized the injustice of continuing extractive activities while promoting cleanup efforts and encouraged sustained advocacy ahead of COP30 in Brazil. The “Yasunize and Ogonize” campaign aims to link local environmental struggles with global movements for climate justice.
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