Economy
Nigeria’s Gas Flaring Worsens Further as NOSDRA Stops Monitoring, Tracking
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s gas flaring continued to worsen as energy companies operating in the country flared 11.315 billion standard cubic feet (SCF) of gas in September 2025, according to latest data released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited, rising by 11.37 per cent compared with 10.431 billion SCF (BSCF) of gas flared in August 2025.
The NNPC in its gas utilisation and flare data for September 2025, also disclosed that the country recorded total gas output of 150.316 billion SCF in the month under review, dropping by 11.48 per cent from 169.819 billion SCF of gas recorded in August 2025, from which 7.53 per cent of the total output was flared.
The continued increase in the percentage volume of gas flared in the country can largely be attributed to the oil spill and gas flare watchdog, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency’s (NOSDRA) discontinuation of gas flare monitoring and tracking across the country.
Prior to June 2025, when NOSDRA last published the May 2025 gas flare data, its Gas Flare Tracker was usually published on a monthly basis.
The tracker showed data on the volume and value of gas flared, the volume of carbon dioxide emitted into the environment, the electricity generation potential of the gas flared and the penalties the offending firms were supposed to pay to the government.
Specifically, since NOSDRA stopped tracking and publishing gas flare data collected from oil and gas production sites across the petroleum industry since May 2025, the country had recorded a steady rise in the percentage volume of gas flared.
For instance, the NNPC, in its gas production and gas flare reports, noted that the percentage volume of gas flared by oil and gas firms in May and June 2025 stood at 5.33 per cent and 5.61 per cent of total gas output in their respective months.
In July 2025, the NNPCL reported that 11.636 billion SCF of gas, representing 5.99 per cent of total gas production in the month, was flared; in August 2025, oil firms flared 6.14 per cent of their total gas output, which was 10.431 billion SCF of their total gas output; while in September 2025, the oil firms flared 7.53 per cent of the 150.316 billion SCF of gas produced in the country in the same month.
When contacted on the issue, NOSDRA refused to provide any reason for its decision to discontinue gas flare tracking.
It will be recalled that NOSDRA, had in 2019, announced that it had commenced the real-time tracking and monitoring of gas flaring and oil spillage across the country, with the launch and handover of the environmental monitoring tools, the Oil Spill Monitor and Gas Flare Tracker.
According to NOSDRA, the advantages of the tracker included that the country would have its own gas flare data, would be able to get whatever amount of gas anybody flares into the system, and the companies compelled to pay the correct penalty.
The Gas Flare Tracker was developed for NOSDRA by the Stakeholder Democratic Network, SDN, with funding from the Facility for Oil Sector Transparency and Reform, FOSTER.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
