Teaching Comparative

Weak state exemplified

If you want an example (for teaching or a test question) of how weak the Nigerian state is, check out the April 5th edition of The Economist, p. 50

Another deadline goes up in flames

"Continued gas flaring harms both the environment and the economy

"Gas flares... may well contribute more greenhouse gas to the atmosphere than any other source in sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria flares more than any country after Russia: 20 billion cubic metres a year out of a global total of 150 billion. For years oil companies have flared the gas to separate it from the lucrative crude oil. Lacking facilities to harness the gas or a market to sell it, flaring made good business sense, even if it damaged the atmosphere. But flaring not only continues to pollute horribly, it is also wasteful. The gas that is wasted could earn the country more than $500m a year.

"All this was supposed to have changed by this year to meet a deadline to end flaring agreed on by the government and international oil companies. But no one seems to agree on whether the 2008 deadline was January 1st or December 31st...

"Nigeria outlawed gas flaring in 1979, to be phased out five years later. But since companies pay a minuscule fee for flaring and are allowed to carry on under government-granted exceptions, there is little incentive to stop. No legislation regulates the gas industry; penalties and procedures are irregularly enforced.

"In February the government approved a “gas master plan”. This provides for building new facilities and injecting gas into the domestic supply, so encouraging producers to stop flaring once and for all. But although regulators have threatened heavier penalties for flaring, the fact that oil accounts for about 76% of government revenue and 90% of exports makes the government wary of imposing penalties so tough that they might persuade oil companies to shut down production instead..."

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The article is online at

Labels: Nigeria, state

posted by Ken Wedding @ 5:05 PM