From Exploitation to Inclusion: Assessing Environmental Justice for Host Communities Under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021

Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 promises to overhaul the oil sector, but does it deliver environmental justice for host communities in the Niger Delta? How impactful has the oil generated been on the lives of the people in the host communities? These questions are mostly answered in the negative as the oil sector is characterized by various vices, including the absence of precision, transparency, responsibility, political instability, and non-compliance with international best practices. Successive Nigerian authorities, though enriched with oil discoveries, continued to receive backlash from the oil-producing communities. Determination to nip these problems in the bud brought about the enactment of the 2021 Petroleum IndustryAct. Yet, some of these problems still linger within the oil and gas industry because of the way this Act was couched. This paper assesses the impact of PIA on environmental justice by examining provisions for community participation, environmental regulations, and grievance mechanisms. While PIA introduces some positive steps, gaps persist in enforcement, FPIC, and access to remedies. We recommend strengthening the FPIC, explicit environmental justice language, and liability clauses to shift from exploitation to inclusion.Without robust implementation, environmental injustice will persist in Nigeria’s oil-producing regions