Omission-based Liability as a Panacea for Oil Pollution: Borrowing a Leaf from the UK Bribery Act 2010 and the UK Finance Act 2017

The Niger Delta is steeped with oil pollution, and oil spills occur with an average frequency of 992 spills per year in the past 12 years (2013 – 2024) resulting in massive land and water pollution as well as public health crisis for the local inhabitants. Gas flaring is also on-going with no end in sight. Although oil pollution also results from drill cutting and seismic surveys, oil spill and gas flaring remain the greatest sources of oil pollution in the Niger Delta. Domestic laws and regulations enacted to control these have been largely ineffective. This article examines the legal feasibility of introducing an omission-based liability regime - the failure to prevent oil pollution modelled after the ‘failure to prevent’ bribery under the UK Bribery Act, 2010 and the UK Finance Act, 2017. The article concludes that corporate environmental liability for the offence of ‘failure to prevent’ oil pollution is supportable and should be extended to the offence of oil pollution in the Nigeria's Niger Delta.