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Laws against oil spill offenders inadequate – NOSDRA

By BusinessNews Staff on January 15, 2014

There are no adequate laws to deal with oil spill offenders in the country, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency has said.

According to the agency, the development has exacerbated the scourge of oil spill in many parts of the country, especially in oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta.

The Director-General, NOSDRA, Mr. Idabor Peter, during a retreat organised by the agency in Abuja, said although there were laws against oil spill, such regulations were virtually ineffective.

He said, “Talking about laws, the NOSDRA law was set up by an Act of the National Assembly in 2006 and it made adequate laws for the agency to regulate the oil industry on matters relating to oil spill.

“But the issue is how effective are those laws? That is what we are talking about. Do these laws come with punishments? These are some of the factors that need to be addressed. That is why we went to the National Assembly to look at it critically in order to ensure that there is an adequate punishment for any kind of default by some of these operators.”

Idabor said an amendment of the agency’s laws would enable it to sanction errant oil companies and individual defaulters effectively.

“So, the idea is that when our law is amended, we will have more teeth to bite and we will be able to curb the incidence of oil pollution in the country,” he added.

[Punch]

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