LEGAL CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH CONTROL MEASURES FOR OIL AND GAS POLLUTION IN NIGERIA.

It is indisputable that the impact of oil and gas on the Nigerian economy is felt specifically through direct contributions to the national income and output, thus generating employments and manpower expenditures on social programme such as health and education. Years of oil and gas development have also led to the degradation of the lives of the people in the oil producing communities through a combination of factors which have affected those communities and people in social, economic and environmental terms notwithstanding such legal and institutional frameworks put in place. This research adopted the doctrinal methodology* in the determination of the legal challenges associated with control measures for oil and as pollution in Nigeria. The research observed amongst others that although petroleum industry operators are statutorily required to observe amongst other the highest international environmental safety standards in their activities, the limited technical capacity of the federal regulatory agencies (Department of Petroleum Resources, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, and National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency), and the shallow rule of law context, resulted to weak enforcement. High levels of poverty, unemployment, socio-economic inequality, dysfunctional social services, and infrastructure underdevelopment in the Niger Delta compound the environmental neglect and degradation of the region. The research also recommended among many that oil companies operation must be in according with robust international, social and environmental standard and concluded that lack of enforcement is the most fundamental cause of the inability of these laws to protect the environment from oil and gas pollution in Nigeria.