Akwa Ibom communities protest over ‘$270 million’ gas flare fund

Civil society groups and oil-producing host communities staged a protest at the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) office in Akwa Ibom State, demanding the public accounting of over $270 million in gas flare penalties.

The demonstration, organized by the Akwa Ibom Extractive Justice Alliance, highlights growing local fury over worsening pollution and systemic neglect. It also thrusts a controversial fiscal reform by President Bola Tinubu back into the spotlight. Activists allege that hundreds of millions of dollars designed to fund environmental relief are being diverted into national coffers.

The coalition described its action as part of an international campaign against fossil fuel pollution involving communities across Africa and South America. It said penalties exceeding $10.4 million became payable specifically on Oil Mining Lease 13 between 2021 and 2023, yet gas has been flared continuously on the lease since production commenced in May 2024. Eight communities in Eastern Obolo Local Government Area remain without electricity despite sitting atop gas reserves the coalition estimates at over five trillion cubic feet according to the protesters.

“The data shows clearly that penalty payments are not translating into reduced flaring,” the coalition stated in its formal petition submitted to the NUPRC in Eket. The group is demanding the public release of all flare penalties assessed in the state since 2021, alongside progress reports on gas-capture initiatives.

The Backstory: Tinubu’s Revenue Shakeup

The tension roots back to early 2026, when President Tinubu signed an aggressive executive order aimed at clawing back revenues from state-run energy assets.

The presidential directive stripped the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited of its ability to retain lucrative management fees, such as the 30% Frontier Exploration Fund, mandating direct remittances to the Federation Account to ease national budget constraints.

The executive order also fundamentally altered how environmental penalties are handled. It dismantled a critical provision of the landmark Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021. Under the PIA, gas flaring fines collected under Section 104 were legally mandated to flow into the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund (MDGIF) to support environmental remediation and provide relief to host communities.

However, the presidency at the time argued that section 103 of the PIA already established a dedicated Environmental Remediation Fund, administered by NUPRC, specifically designed to fund the rehabilitation of communities negatively impacted by upstream petroleum operations, including gas flaring. It said that additional deductions were duplicative and far exceeded global norms and effectively diverted more than two-thirds of potential remittances to the Federation Account.

Tinubu’s order ended that framework, directing the NUPRC to bypass the MDGIF entirely and instead funnel all proceeds from gas flaring penalties directly into the Federation Account for general government spending.

Rising Costs, Worsening Pollution

While the federal government defends the measures as necessary to eliminate structural leakages and wasteful spending, host communities argue they are bearing the physical cost of federal balance sheets.

Protesters pointed out that despite massive corporate payouts, pollution has spiked. Citing Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) data, the coalition noted that oil companies paid an unprecedented $646 million in flaring penalties nationwide in 2025—the highest in five years. Yet, Nigeria missed its target to eliminate routine flaring, burning off 301.3 million standard cubic feet of gas in 2024, up from 278.3 million standard cubic feet the previous year.

In local government areas like Ibeno, Eket, Esit Eket, and Onna, community advocates state that toxic gas flaring continues unabated, severely degrading local air, water, and soil quality.

The coalition warns that the redirecting of these funds isolates vulnerable populations. By cutting off the MDGIF, they argue, the government has compromised the financial mechanism meant to restore regions suffering from the environmental fallout of petroleum extraction. Activists are now calling on the National Assembly to intervene and restore the statutory framework of the PIA.