Former Minister of Petroleum and Foreign Affairs, Henry Odein Ajumogobia, SAN, has called for stricter punishment for gas flaring and stronger enforcement of environmental laws in the Niger Delta, saying the region is not suffering from lack of laws but from failure of legal governance.
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Ajumogobia spoke on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at the NDDC Law and Development Summit 2026, themed “The Role Of Law In Driving Sustainable Development In The Niger Delta Region.”
The former minister said poor enforcement, weak accountability and over-centralisation of resource governance had contributed to the persistent environmental degradation, underdevelopment and mistrust in the Niger Delta.
According to him, proper implementation of existing laws, stronger penalties and greater community participation in petroleum operations are necessary to tackle gas flaring, pollution and other development challenges in the region.
“The Niger Delta is not suffering from a lack of law. It is suffering from a failure of legal governance,” Ajumogobia said.
He said host communities must no longer be treated as passive observers in petroleum operations, but as true stakeholders with enforceable participation rights, fair revenue sharing and meaningful inclusion in decision-making.
“Host communities must no longer be passive observers. They must become true stakeholders in petroleum operations. This requires enforceable participation rights, fair revenue sharing and meaningful inclusion in decision-making processes that only law can introduce and sustain,” he stated.
Ajumogobia also called for stronger environmental laws, including strict liability for pollution, firm cleanup obligations and clear deadlines for remediation.
He advocated the establishment of environmental courts across Niger Delta states to handle disputes arising from oil exploration, pollution and environmental degradation.
“We need environmental courts with real authority, because without consequences, there is no compliance,” he said.
On gas flaring, the former minister called for total prohibition of routine gas flaring backed by stringent penalties that would deter violators.
“Gas flaring must end, not in rhetoric, but in law. It should be prohibited absolutely with stringent penalties that deter violation, not tolerated. And here I am talking about routine gas flaring,” he said.
Ajumogobia further argued that resource governance must be decentralised, noting that over-centralisation had disconnected communities from their resources and fuelled conflict and underdevelopment.
“Over-centralisation has disconnected communities from their own resources. And that disconnect has fuelled mistrust, conflict and underdevelopment,” he said.
He also stressed the need for transparency in petroleum revenues, contracts and community funds, warning that secrecy breeds corruption.
“Transparency must be non-negotiable. Petroleum revenues, contracts and community funds must be open to scrutiny because secrecy is the breeding ground of corruption,” he added.
Ajumogobia said the Niger Delta must also look beyond oil and develop other sectors, including agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture, tourism and the blue economy, with the support of appropriate legal and policy frameworks.
In his remarks, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, said the NDDC, as a flagship interventionist agency, has a statutory mandate to facilitate sustainable development in the region.
Ogbuku said sustainable development in the Niger Delta should not be limited to infrastructure, but must include economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection.
According to him, the current board and management of the NDDC have made deliberate efforts to reposition the commission from transactions to transformation.
“When we came on board, we discovered that the internal processes of the Commission needed administrative recalibration if we must carry out the ambitious reforms we needed to do,” Ogbuku said.
“As at today, the NDDC has almost 90 per cent digitalised its processes. We have put in place mechanisms for contractors and stakeholders to sign and execute their contract agreements electronically from the comfort of their homes and offices with minimal physical contact,” he added.
Ogbuku said the digitalisation drive is part of broader reforms aimed at improving transparency, efficiency and service delivery within the commission.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the 7th Governing Board of the NDDC, Chiedu Ebie, said the Niger Delta requires a bold and responsive legal framework to enable its people benefit meaningfully from the resources in their environment.
Ebie said the summit was convened to bring together legal minds and development experts to explore how law could be deployed, reformed and innovated to accelerate sustainable development in the region.
“For the peoples of the Niger Delta, a region whose vast natural wealth has for too long stood in painful contrast to the poverty and neglect of its communities, these are not abstract ideals. They are urgent, lived realities,” he said.
“The aspirations of our people demand nothing less than a legal architecture that is bold, responsive, and fit for purpose,” he added.
Ebie also expressed concern over the structure of the NDDC’s annual appropriations, saying funding constraints, regulatory bottlenecks, inflationary pressures and abandoned projects had slowed development delivery in the region.
“It is here that we encounter one of our most persistent challenges. The structure of our annual appropriations, combined with complex regulatory compliance requirements, has at times created a labyrinth of procedural constraints that slow the pace of development delivery to our people,” he said.
He noted that some projects had suffered setbacks due to funding constraints, inflation and outright abandonment, describing such outcomes as unacceptable.
“These outcomes are unacceptable, and they call upon us to think creatively, to act boldly, and to engage the law not as an obstacle, but as a tool,” Ebie said.
He said the theme of the summit was timely and transformative, as it provided a platform to examine environmental, social and governance principles, review existing legal frameworks and chart a new direction for development in the Niger Delta.
The summit brought together legal practitioners, policymakers, development experts, public officials and stakeholders to examine how law can drive sustainable development, environmental protection, institutional accountability and economic transformation in the Niger Delta.
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