A Review of the Deficiencies Impeding an Effective Regulation of Environmental Standards in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry

 ABSTRACT: Oil and gas resource exploitation has hugely contributed to Nigeria’s revenue. This is therefore an important contributor to the Nigerian economy. Nigerian oil and gas business has been mainly facilitated by multinational and indigenous oil companies operating in the industry. The study regards them as participants in the industry. It is noteworthy that this study will refer to company and corporation as one and the same entity.It has been observed that some oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria have clearly violated regulatory standards established in the Nigerian environmental regime. It has further been observed that the violations are repeated and persistent in nature. This is interesting considering that the Nigerian environmental regime has provided criminal sanctions (as a regulatory tool) to prohibit a violation of such standards and stipulates penalties that can be imposed for such violations. Moreover, other relevant