The Necessity for the Enactment of Surface Damages Act for Oil and Gas Projects in Nigeria
Cranbrook Law Review Volume 10, No. 1 pp. 1-14 , 2020
14 Pages Posted: 3 Mar 2020
Date Written: January 2, 2020
Abstract
The prevailing legal position in Nigeria is that, the Federal Government is the minerals interest owner whilst the rights over the surface of the lands are under the control of private individuals and communities. Therefore, it is the Federal Government that grant oil mining leases to the international Oil Companies (IOCs), empowering them to enter into the oil lands using the surface whose rights reside in private individuals. The goal of this article is to explore the legal effects of the subsisting severance in title to the surface and the mineral strata of lands with regards to crude oil production in Nigeria. The article also compared the legal effects of the severance of the land surface and the mineral interest in the United States of America and, Nigeria. The article emphasizes that, the enactment and enforcement of the Surface Damages Act in many States of the United States of America has created an outstanding legal model by which the rights of the owners of the surface of the lands where crude oil are exploited are able to seek redress against the oil companies for breach of such rights. It is therefore, recommended amongst others that, Nigeria should emulate the United States by enacting the Surface Damages Act in order to break the deadlocks of the incessant violence and agitations of the surface owners and communities where oil and gas are being extracted.
Keywords: Oil, Gas, Energy, Surface Damages, Liability, United States, Nigeria
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