The proposal to end wasteful and ruinous gas flaring is welcome
The disclosure by the German Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Annett Günther, that Nigeria lost an estimated $1.5 billion to gas flaring in 2024 is indicative of the magnitude of the challenge. “Just for context, 5.3 billion cubic meters of gas was flared in 2024 in Nigeria which makes it the seventh rank in the world and that equals an economic loss of US$1.5 billion,” the envoy said while harping on a new partnership with her country to address the issue. “So, this new programme now is to work together and find out how to utilise those flare gases more efficiently, bring down emissions, generate additional value, and use the gas to supply households and industry or even maybe to produce hydrogen.”
We endorse the German proposal with the hope that the federal government will work to end this menace that has gone on for several decades. In the first half of 2024 alone, an estimated 148.7 million standard cubic feet of gas were flared in Nigeria, according to the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA). It is not lost on experts that we fritter away an amount that could have provided much-needed relief to Nigeria’s ongoing foreign exchange woes. Besides, according to experts, this amount of wasted gas has the potential to generate approximately enough electricity to power most of the country. This, despite that gas flaring is against Nigerian law.
