An environmentalist, Mr Emmanuel Emechete, has urged the Federal Government to take strict actions against the increasing Greenhouse Gas (GhG) emissions coming from the country’s oil and gas sector.
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Emechete made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos.
The expert said that the government should prioritise saving lives and future generations by protecting the environment from GhG emissions, the monetary gains notwithstanding.
“The Nigerian oil sector, apart from its direct emissions of GhG, also contributes to a large part of the total emissions in the country indirectly, through its many products used by millions of Nigerians.
“The oil and gas sector is a major producer of Greenhouse gases. However, recent technology to turn gas to liquid fuel has been introduced such as the Escravos Gas-to-Liquid plant located in the shores of the Niger-Delta region and Lagos State.
“The government needs to be more strict with the companies and multinationals in the sector to prevent them from ruining the nation’s environment.
“Everything should not be about monetary value, we need to think of the harm our actions and inactions bring to our health and future generations,” the expert said.
Emechete said that the nation’s oil and gas sector produced all the major greenhouse gas categories and the country should take necessary actions to curb these emissions to save the lives of Nigerians.
“Statistics show that Nigeria’s oil sector is said to be the biggest emitters of Greenhouse gases.
“Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Methane (CH4) Nitrous Oxide (N2O) Water Vapour, and Ozone (O3) Water Vapor (H2O) Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC )etc. are the major sources of Greenhouse gases.”
He said that the oil and gas sector had been producing a large quantity of these harmful gases on daily basis.
“Many of the oil fields, plants and refineries work non stop and have been doing so for years.
“The volume of GhG they emit per week surpasses what one can imagine,” Emechete said.
In addition, he said that greenhouse gases made the earth warmer and caused global warming, leading to climate change (or variation as some experts would prefer to put it.)
“This greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop some of the solar radiation that is normally expected to leave the earth after it has reached the earth’s surface.
“Greenhouse gases reduces production and reproduction in plant, animals and humans. They affect life expectancy and health.
“They damage crops and the whole ecosystem. They make the environment unsuitable for many animals, humans and vulnerable species of animals and plants,” he said.
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