Last December, field testing by Nigeria’s National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) recorded methane concentrations at an oil site in Bille, a coastal community in Rivers State, at levels 10,000 times higher than normal. Amnesty International reported that the spike had consequences for community health, with residents falling ill and some forced to relocate.
This incident is extreme, but it is not isolated. Yet methane emissions laws remain weakly enforced.
A Methane Health Crisis Hidden in Plain Sight
What happened in Bille reflects a broader reality. Millions of people in the Niger Delta live alongside oil and gas infrastructure that leaks and burns methane into the air they breathe and the environments in which they live. A systematic review of studies conducted across Nigeria’s gas-flaring states found a pooled mean respiratory disease prevalence of 43 percent among populations living in exposed communities.
A recent documentary by Policy Alert and We The People, with support from the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), also brings these realities into focus: mothers caring for children with chronic breathing problems and families making repeated trips to clinics they can barely afford. Communities describe living amid persistent air pollution from gas flaring and leaking oil and gas infrastructure, with little accountability for the environmental and health impacts they experience.
Methane is widely recognised for its role in global warming, but it equally affects health through direct and indirect contact. These lived experiences are increasingly supported by emerging evidence linking methane emissions and associated air pollutants to public health concerns in exposed communities. Analysis by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) highlights these public health implications.
In enclosed or poorly ventilated spaces, high methane concentrations can displace oxygen, leading to dizziness, breathing difficulty, and in severe cases, unconsciousness or death. Methane also contributes to the formation of ground-level ozone, a harmful type of air pollution.
Gas flaring, common in oil and gas production, burns associated gas to convert methane into carbon dioxide, reducing the climate damage that would result from direct methane release. However, flaring can also emit dangerous pollutants that contribute to poorer air quality and elevated health risks for nearby communities.
Addressing methane emissions and ending routine flaring, therefore, offers a double dividend: protecting the climate while improving public health outcomes. Stronger regulation and better monitoring are essential to safeguard both people and the environment.
The Economic Cost of Inaction
The health impacts of methane alone should compel action. But the economic case is just as strong.
Nigeria is widely regarded as the largest methane emitter in sub-Saharan Africa. Much of this methane comes from deliberately released gas, equipment leaks due to poor maintenance, and incomplete flaring. In each case, gas that could be captured and sold is instead lost. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that in 2023, Nigeria could have generated about $350 million in revenue from methane abatement by selling recovered gas, while spending an average of only $240 million per year on abatement efforts. The international consequences are now catching up. Under the EU Methane Regulation, importers must show by January 2027 that their gas supply meets strict monitoring, reporting, and verification standards.
Nigeria exported nearly 14 million tonnes of LNG in 2024, with Europe accounting for about one-third. For a supplier operating at roughly twice the global average methane intensity, failure to verify and reduce emissions poses a risk to continued market access.
At the same time, global energy supply pressures mean Europe is actively seeking reliable partners. Nigeria has an opportunity to fill that role, but only if it can ensure that its gas meets the standards buyers will soon be required to enforce.
Why Enforcement Matters More Than New Pledges
Nigeria does not lack methane rules. The Petroleum Industry Act 2021, alongside recently passed regulatory guidelines in 2022 and 2025, set out the core elements of methane management. The government has also committed to reducing fugitive methane emissions by 61 percent and ending routine flaring by 2030 under its Energy Transition Plan and climate commitments.
But these commitments are not new. Similar promises have been made under previous initiatives, including the National Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme, the Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 initiative and earlier National Determined Contribution cycles. While there has been some progress over the years, these efforts have struggled to fully deliver on their objectives. According to Nigeria’s Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative’s 2022 and 2023 Oil and Gas Industry Audit Reports, only 15 of 62 companies operating in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector have submitted greenhouse gas emission reports, despite it being a regulatory requirement. The record shows a pattern of strong pledges and laws followed by weak delivery. This is an enforcement gap and it has a human cost that the Bille community and several other communities in the Niger Delta are currently living.
Without a shift in how these targets are implemented and enforced, current commitments risk following the same path: clearly stated but not achieved.
Turning Methane Commitments into Action
The policy response is clear and grounded in existing commitments. Nigeria has already endorsed zero routine flaring and set explicit methane reduction targets. The gap is in enforcement and sustained implementation. Independent, third-party measurement, reporting, and verification should be mandatory across all oil and gas operations, building on current regulatory frameworks rather than replacing them. This allows regulators to verify compliance, apply penalties where needed, and track progress against stated targets. Lessons from past initiatives point to the same issue: commitments without consistent enforcement do not change operators’ behaviour. The government must strengthen enforcement to close that gap. This will help reduce waste, protect public health in host communities, and ensure that national targets translate into real emissions reductions rather than repeated pledges.
Tengi George-Ikoli, the country manager at the Natural Resource Governance Institute, writes from Abuja, Nigeria, while Charles Ofori, the policy lead at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy, writes from Accra, Ghana.
