Nigeria loses $1.4bn as a result of unremitted gas royalties, flare penalties – NEITI

Adewale Akintaro
Nigeria’s loss to unpaid gas royalties and gas flaring penalties, according to a new report by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has amounted to $1.4 bn.
Ogbonnaya Orji, the executive secretary of NEITI, disclosed this in Abuja at a roundtable event organised by BudgIT Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, on tracking energy transition costs and transparency in the budgeting.
In his word, this was contained in the Transparency Initiative’s most recent report on the oil and gas and mining sectors for 2021.
Orji said that deliberate investments in the solid minerals sector, gas infrastructure and commercialisation, human capital development, and use of low-carbon hydrogen as priority areas of focus in the country’s budgeting to respond to energy transition and climate change.
“These opportunities come at a cost that requires commitment to compute them in terms of human and material resources,” he said.
In addition, the NEITI helmsman reiterated the importance of gas commercialisation as an important pathway for Nigeria to mitigate the risks and economic impacts of climate change and energy transition.
“NEITI’s recent report of the oil and gas industry disclosed a total unremitted revenue of gas royalty payments of $559.8 million and another unremitted sum of $828.8 million from unpaid gas flare penalties.
“A close look at these figures indicated that more gas was flared during the period than utilised, thereby posing serious dangers to the global zero emissions agenda,” he added.
