Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law Volume 21 | Issue 1 Article 6 2016 Public Regulation of the Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria: An Evaluation Eghosa Osa Ekhator Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/annlsurvey Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, International Law Commons, and the Oil, Gas, and Mineral Law Commons Recommended Citation Ekhator, Eghosa Osa (2016) "Public Regulation of the Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria: An Evaluation," Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law: Vol. 21: Iss. 1, Article 6. Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/annlsurvey/vol21/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Academic Journals at GGU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law by an authorized administrator of GGU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Ekhator: The Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria PUBLIC REGULATION OF THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY IN NIGERIA: AN EVALUATION DR. EGHOSA OSA EKHATOR* ABSTRACT Nigeria operates a command and control regulatory framework in the oil and gas sector.1 This type of regulation was prevalent in the United States and Britain during the 1970s and 1980s.2 Under this regulatory framework, regulators are deemed to be acting in the public interest. This article focuses on the extant public regulatory regime in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria. Generally, factors, such as red-tape, over-regulation and regulatory capture, amongst others, are some reasons militating against a command and control regulatory regime.3 This article will con- tend that unless there is a paradigmatic shift in the state-oriented or pub- lic regulatory framework in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria, the fundamental ills or malaise afflicting the industry will not abate.