Improving compliance and enforcement of environmental regulation of the petroleum sector in Nigeria: The role of institutionalism

Brown, Cleverline

Abstract

Regardless of the existence of a wide range of regulatory instruments and agencies, the petroleum sector has remained largely unregulated in Nigeria. The impact of lack of or weak regulation is seen in the increasing environmental degradation across the Nigerian environment and the increasing number of court cases on the subject matter. In querying the failure of the existing regulatory regime with particular reference to the petroleum sector, this thesis challenges the conventional scholarship which had hitherto concentrated on the development of enforcement of environmental regulation and ignoring the compliance aspect that can be adopted to create a balanced regulatory model that is capable of meeting the regulatory demands of the petroleum sector. This thesis argues that since law alone is not enough for a properly regulated petroleum sector, in order to achieve an effectively regulated sector, a better regulatory architecture that promotes innovative compliance and enforcement mechanisms can be institutionalised in the regulatory design of the Nigeran petroleum sector. In support of this, this thesis adopted a socio-legal analysis of the literature on compliance and enforcement strategies practiced at the international, regional and national levels of other jurisdictions and the role of the executive, legislature and the judiciary in institutionalising compliance and enforcement. This thesis demonstrates that a more cooperative system of regulation that emphasises a balanced compliance and enforcement model can produce the desired regulatory effect and secure a transformative development outcome that promotes sustainable development. This thesis also finds that addressing regulatory challenges like access rights, funding failures, technological advancement in petroleum operations, restructuring environmental courts systems, consolidation of regulatory legal instruments in the petroleum sector in Nigeria can bring the Nigerian regulatory regime at par with international best practices. As such this research recommends reforms which will encourage the development of compliance mechanisms that facilitate effective environmental regulation.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Apr 7, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 21, 2022
• Keywords: Institutionalisation, Compliance , Enforcement, Environmental regulation
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7249099
• Award Date: Feb 21, 2022