Nigeria Losses $1 Billion Due To Forgery Of Gas Flare Data

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) Rasheed Bawa has disclosed that Nigeria is losing an estimated value of $1 billion due to gas flare data forgery from multinational oil companies.

The EFCC chairman was represented by the Lagos state coordinator Ahmed Ghali during a “one day workshop on illicit financial flow organized by The Human and Environmental development Agenda, Mr Ghali said big oil companies manipulated gas flare data in order to hew payment on penalties.

His words  “Multinational Oil Companies (MOCs) operating in Nigeria has over the years been falsifying gas flare data to cut down on payment of penalties. The former Petroleum Minister, Dr lbe Kachukwu put the loss from this illicit flow to between $500,000,000 and $1,000,000,000 in revenues that would have accrued from the penalties.

A measure, which was introduced to control and wind up gas flaring through the Associated gas Reinjected Act in 1979, prohibits the flaring of Associated Gas in Section 3(1) Act. On the other hand, Section 3(2) authorizes the minister to issue a flaring certification.

Bawa explained that some meritorious initiatives has been put in process to ensure clean energy transition in Nigeria. Some of those initiatives includes Associated Gas Re-injection Act, Private sector led initiatives like the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) project and the Domestic Gas Supply Obligations (DGSOs).

He further stated that Nigeria has not been able to make substantial progress due to the countries inability to prevent illicit financial flow and consequently end gas flaring. This problem has resulted to deceptive financial declaration by oil and gas manufacturers.