24-12-03 A National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) has been formed and approved by the Federal Executive Council of Nigeria.
The Ministry of environment, which initiated the Agency, has also forwarded to the federal executive council for approval, the reviewed draft National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCP) which the Agency would manage.

The establishment of the contingency plan and the agency was in compliance with the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation (OPRC90) to which Nigeria is a signatory. According to the ministry's sources, the draft bill on the NOSDRA was being put together and would be forwarded to the National Assembly to be enacted into law.
Apart from intensifying efforts towards compliance monitoring and enforcement of oil and gas regulations and standards, the ministry is also mounting pressure on the oil and gas operators for a gas flare-out in the year, 2004.

Effort is also being made, according to the sources, to ensure the use of environmental-friendly drilling fluid and mud systems.
These are parts of the policies and procedures the ministry has laid down to control oil and gas pollution, especially in the Niger Delta part of Nigeria, the sources hinted.