As Nigeria’s domestic gas market expands, questions about safety, regulatory compliance and corporate accountability are increasingly important. While the country has developed a broad legal and regulatory framework governing the handling, storage, transportation, and distribution of gas, enforcement remains critical to translating regulation into safer operations. In this interview with Valuechain, Emmanuel Umahi Ekwe, Esq., Principal Partner of EE Umahi & Associates and Commandant of the NBA Garki Branch Duty Solicitor Scheme, spoke with Emmanuel Peter during the Gas Safety Conference, which examines the legal responsibilities of gas operators, common compliance failures, contractor management, emerging risks and the need for a more proactive approach to gas safety.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Emmanuel Umahi Ekwe, Esq. I am the Principal Partner of EE Umahi & Associates, a law firm based in Abuja, where I practise in the areas of commercial law, corporate and regulatory compliance, civil and criminal litigation, and general legal practice. I am also the Commandant of the NBA Garki Branch Duty Solicitor Scheme, where I am involved in initiatives aimed at strengthening access to justice and improving the administration of criminal justice.
With extensive experience in legal practice and regulatory matters, I bring a practitioner’s perspective to questions of corporate accountability, risk management, regulatory compliance, and the legal responsibilities of businesses operating in highly regulated sectors, including Nigeria’s growing oil and gas industry.
How effective would you say Nigeria’s current legal framework is in terms of promoting accountability for gas safety violations?
Nigeria has a reasonably comprehensive legal and regulatory framework for gas safety. The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), regulations administered by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), environmental legislation, occupational health and safety requirements, and applicable technical standards collectively provide a framework for regulating the handling, storage, transportation and distribution of gas.
The more significant challenge is effective and consistent enforcement. Having regulations on the books is only the starting point. Accountability depends on regular inspections, proper incident investigation, reliable record-keeping, timely enforcement, and sanctions that are sufficiently meaningful to deter non-compliance.
There is also a strong case for greater coordination among the different authorities whose mandates intersect with gas safety. Where responsibilities overlap, regulatory uncertainty can arise, while gaps in coordination can weaken enforcement.
Ultimately, Nigeria does not simply need more rules; it needs consistent implementation of existing rules and a stronger culture of accountability. Operators should understand that compliance is an ongoing operational obligation, not something to be demonstrated only when an incident occurs.
What are the most common compliance mistakes made by gas operators?
One of the most persistent mistakes is treating compliance as a documentation exercise rather than an operational discipline. An operator may have licences, policies and safety manuals in place, yet fail to ensure that those requirements are reflected in day-to-day operations.
Common deficiencies include inadequate risk assessments, poor preventive maintenance, insufficient employee training, weak emergency-response systems, improper storage and handling of gas, inadequate inspection regimes, incomplete records, and failure to report incidents or near misses promptly.
Another significant area of concern is contractor management. Operators sometimes engage contractors primarily on the basis of cost or technical capability without adequately assessing their safety record, competence, insurance and regulatory compliance.
This is a critical issue because outsourcing an activity does not necessarily outsource the underlying risk. Effective compliance must extend across the entire operational and contracting chain.
How can legal frameworks encourage a proactive rather than reactive approach to gas safety?
The law should create an environment in which preventing an incident is demonstrably better than responding to one. This means placing greater emphasis on risk identification and prevention before an accident occurs.
Regulatory requirements should continue to support measures such as mandatory risk assessments, preventive maintenance, equipment certification, safety audits, emergency-response planning, employee training, and reporting of incidents and near misses.
There is also room for a stronger risk-based regulatory approach, where regulatory attention is proportionate to the nature and severity of the risks presented by particular facilities or activities.
Most importantly, enforcement should not be triggered only by explosions, fatalities or environmental damage. A mature safety regime intervenes when warning signs first emerge.
The objective should therefore be to move from a “compliance after the incident” culture to a “prevention before the incident” culture. That shift requires regulators, boards and management to measure safety not merely by the absence of accidents, but by the strength of the systems designed to prevent them.
What emerging legal issues should investors and operators be paying attention to as the domestic gas market grows?
As Nigeria’s domestic gas market expands, investors and operators need to view regulatory and legal risk as an integral part of investment planning.
The evolving regulatory landscape under the Petroleum Industry Act and subsequent regulations will remain particularly important, including licensing, technical standards, environmental obligations, health and safety requirements, and approvals applicable to individual projects.
Environmental liability is another area that deserves increasing attention. Issues such as methane emissions, environmental impact assessments, waste management, remediation obligations, and the allocation of environmental liabilities can materially affect the economics of a project.
Investors should also scrutinise contractual risks. Gas projects are often long-term and capital intensive, making issues such as supply obligations, pricing, transportation, infrastructure access, force majeure, regulatory change and termination particularly significant.
As the sector becomes more technology-driven, cybersecurity and data risks will also become increasingly relevant, especially where critical gas infrastructure relies on digital monitoring, automation and remote-control systems.
The message for investors is straightforward: legal, regulatory, environmental and safety due diligence should be undertaken with the same seriousness as financial due diligence.
On a final note, how can contracts, procurement processes, and corporate governance be structured to reinforce a strong safety culture?
Safety should be built into the commercial and governance structures of a gas business from the outset. It should not sit in a separate compliance manual that has little connection with commercial decision-making.
Contracts with contractors and suppliers should contain clear health, safety and environmental obligations, measurable performance standards, reporting requirements, training obligations, audit rights, incident-notification provisions, and appropriate remedies for non-compliance.
Procurement decisions should similarly go beyond the question of who offers the lowest price. Safety competence, regulatory compliance, equipment quality, contractor history, insurance and technical capability should all form part of the procurement assessment.
At the board and management level, safety must have visible leadership ownership. This includes clear accountability, regular reporting on safety performance, independent audits where appropriate, effective whistleblowing and incident-reporting mechanisms, and meaningful consequences where safety standards are ignored.
A strong safety culture is ultimately established when an organisation’s people understand that no production target, commercial deadline or cost-saving measure is more important than safe operations.
Finally, when safety is embedded in contracts, procurement, investment decisions and corporate governance, compliance stops being merely a regulatory requirement and becomes part of the organisation’s DNA.
