FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA

SENATE

NATIONAL OIL SPILL DETECTION AND RESPONSE AGENCY (AMENDMENT)

BILL 2012

A BILL FOR AN ACT TO AMEND THE NATIONAL OIL SPILL DETECTION AND RESPONSE AGENCY ACT AND FOR MATTERS CONNECTED

THEREWITH

A BILL

FOR

AN ACT TO AMEND THE NATIONAL OIL SPILL DETECTION AND RESPONSE AGENCY (ESTABLISHMENT, ETC) ACT, 2006AND FOR OTHER

MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH.

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BE IT ENACTED by the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as follows:

The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (Establishment etc.) Act 2006 (in this Act Referred to as “the principal Act”) is here by amended as set out in this Act.

2. (1) The long title of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (Establishment etc.) Act of 2006 is here re-designated as the “National Oil Pollution Management Agency”

(2) Accordingly, any reference in the Act to “National Oil Spill Detection and Response” agency shall be construed as the “National Oil Pollution Management agency”

Section1 of the principal Act is amended in subsection (1) by substituting for the existing subsection (1) a new subsection as follows--

“(2) There is established an Agency to be known as the National Oil Pollution Management Agency (in this Act referred to as the Agency)” with the responsibility to prevent, detect, minimize and respond to all oil spillages and pollution as well as gas flaring and leakages and other hazardous and obnoxious substances in the petroleum sector, coordinate private sector participation in oil pollution management, have access to the ‘Oil Spillage Liability Trust Fund’ as set up by law.

Section 1 of the principal Act is amended in subsection (2) by adding to the existing subsection (2) a new subsection as follows;(xvi) The Federal Fire Service(xvii) The Nigerian Custom Service(xviii) The Nigerian Immigration

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Section6 of the principal Act is amended by substituting for the existing one a new section as follows-

6. -(1) The Agency shall –

(a) be responsible for surveillance and enforce compliance with all existing environmental legislation relating to prevention, detection and general management of oil spills, oily wastes and gas flare in the petroleum industry;

(b) enforce compliance with the provisions of international agreements, protocols, conventions and treaties relating to oil and gas and oil spill response management and such other related agreements as may from time to time come into force;

(c) receive reports of oil spillages, leakages from gas pipelines, storage facilities and co-ordinate oil spill and gas leakages response activities throughout Nigeria;

(d) ensure the remediation of oil impacted sites irrespective of the cause of the spillage;

(e) co-ordinate the implementation of the Plan for the removal of hazardous and noxious substances as may be issued by the Federal Government;

(f) perform such other functions as may be required to achieve the aims and objectives of the Agency under this Act or any plan as may be formulated by the Federal Government pursuant to this Act.

(g) develop, publishand implement procedures for assessing damages for compensation andin conjunction with operators develop proceduresfor processing compensation under the Act.

(h) license and coordinate private sector actors to participate in remediation and cleanup of contaminated sites.

(i) license and certify expert damage valuersto participate in the verification and valuation of compensation claims under the Act

(j) in collaboration with the ministry of petroleum or any other relevant agency, set and establish environmental standards for upstream petroleum operations

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“Functions ofthe Agency.

(k) ensure adherence to environmental standards that may be established by the government, by all operators and companies involved in any activity pertaining to the upstream petroleum operations

(l) establish, monitor and regulate environmental measures relating to the management of downstream assets, including but not limited to refineries, petrochemical plants, petroleum depots and pipelines, and downstream gas plants;

(m) carry out environmental impact assessments of any projects in the petroleum industry for any person in return for fees at commercial rates;

(n) Every licensee or lessee engaged in petroleum operations shall submit to the agency for approval an environmental management plan, within the latter of six months after:

Section 7 of the principal Act is amended by inserting new subsections H, I, J, K, L, immediately after subsection G as follows-

(h) The Agency shall monitor the process of decommissioning or abandonment of drill sites and oil facilities as well as oil and gas industry operational areas in accordance with the procedure and guidelines issued by the Agency.

(i) The decommissioned/abandoned drill sites shall be cleaned-up, remediated and restored to its natural or near natural states by the oil facility owner.

(j) The Agency shall be notified in writing by the facility owner of the commencement of the decommissioning and abandonment of any oil facilities or installations within its area of operation.

(k) Failure to notify the Agency on the commencement of such activities will attract penalties prescribed in the Agency’s regulation, guidelines or standards as approved by the National Assembly.

(l) The Agency may issue guidelines regulating abandonment processes and procedures; to which, each oil production and exploration licensee and lessee shall be bound. In the absence of such guidelines at the commencement of production, the Inspectorate issue directives to such licensee or lessee regarding the abandonment and decommissioning of oil and gas installations within their licence or lease area, as the case may be.

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“Abandonment/Decommissioning of drill sites and oil facilities

There shall be inserted immediately after Section 7 of the principal Act, the following new section 8, 9, 10and 11 as follows-

8 (1) A party responsible for any oil spill is by this Act subject to pay liability limits and all removal costs except as otherwise provided in this section, the total of the liability of an Oil Spiller excluding removal costs incurred by, or on behalf of, the Oil Spiller, with respect to each incident shall not exceed—

(a) for a tank vessel, not more thanN50,000 per barrel; or in the case of a vessel of less than 3,000 gross tons, N100,000 per barrel; or in the case of a vessel of 3,000 gross tons or less, N150,000 per barrel;(b) for any other vessel, N250,000 per barrel(c) for an offshore facility except a deep-water port, the total of all removal costs plus N5,000,000,000; and(d) for any onshore facility and/or a deep-water port not more thanN15,000,000,000

provided that a party shall not be held liable in damage for damages if the responsible party shows the spill was caused solely by an act of God, an act of war, or an act or omission of a third party.

(e) It shall not be a defence to show that the spill was as a result of accident or lack of deliberate intentions.

(2) the provisions of subsection (1) shall not be construed to affect or modify in any way the obligations of any owner or operator or any other responsible party to any person or agency under any provision of law for damages to any publicly-owned or privately-owned property resulting from a discharge of any oil or from the removal of any such oil.

(3) subsection (1) does not apply with respect to a responsible party who fails or refuses

a) to report the incident as required by law if the responsible party knows or has reason to know of the incident;

b) to provide all reasonable cooperation and assistance requested by a responsible official in connection with removal activities; or

c) without sufficient cause, to comply with an order issued under this section.

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Penalties.

(4) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply toa responsible party where such spill is proximately caused by gross negligence or willful misconduct of, or the violation of an applicable safety standards, construction or operating regulation by the responsible party, an agent or employee of the responsible party or a person acting pursuant to a contractual relationship with the responsible party shall be liable in civil penalty in an amount up to N150, 000 per barrel of every oil spilled under this subsection.

(5) The responsible party under subsection (4) shall also be liable for damages equal to the net loss of taxes, royalties, rents, fees or net profit shares due to the injury, destruction, or loss of real property, or natural resources, which shall be recoverable by the Federal Government, a state or local government thereof.

(6) (a) Subject to the provisions of this Act the responsible party on any oil spill shall in all cases report an oil spill incident to the Agency in writing, by fax or electronic mail not later than 24 hours after the occurrence of an oil spill in default of which the failure to report shall attract penalty in the sum of N10,000,000 for each day of failure to report the occurrence.

(b) A gas pipeline or storage facility owner/lessee/operator is by this Act to report an unauthorized gas release or leakage incident to the Agency in writing, by fax or electronic mail not later than 24 hours after the occurrence of the gas leakage in default of which the failure to report shall attract penalty in the sum of N10,000,000 for each day of failure to report the occurrence.

(7) The failure to clean up the impacted site by a spiller, to all practical extent including the submission of action plan for remediation within two weeks of the occurrence of the spill shall constitute an offence and upon conviction the oil spiller shall be liable to a fine not less than N3, 000,000per day the spill is not cleaned up or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or an amount up to 3 times the costs incurred by the agency as a result of such failure…

(8) The notice required under subsection (6) of this section shall be deemed to have been made, if delivered at the nearest zonal or field office of the Agency closer to the impacted site or the National Control and Response Centre within the time stipulated under subsection (6) of this section.

9.Notwithstanding the limitations established section 8(1), all removal costs incurred by the Federal Government of Nigeria or any state, local government, person or agency in connection with a spill or substantial threat of a discharge of oil or gas from any facility or vessel carrying oil or gas cargo from such a facility shall be borne by the owner or operator of such facility or vessel

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Removal Costs.

10.Except as provided in subsection 8(1), in any case in which a responsible party establishes that a discharge or threat of a discharge and the resulting removal costs and damages were caused solely by an act or omission of one or more third parties other than an employee or agent of the responsible party or a third party whose act or omission occurs in connection with any contractual relationship with the responsible party, the third party or parties shall be treated as the responsible party or parties for purposes of determining liability under this title.

11(a) (i) A responsible party to a spill shall be liable in

compensation for damages to real or personal property, loss of subsistence use of natural resources, loss of profits and earning capacity due to injury, destruction, of personal property or natural resources, severance and opportunities both private and public in nature arising as a result of an oil spill or unauthorized gas release or the removal cost.

(ii) A claim for compensation for damages arising from an unauthorized oil spill or gas leakage, shall in the first instance be made by the claimant to the responsible party who maypay the claimed value or send a formal notice of rejection of claim to the agency for an independent verification and valuation.

(iii) A claim for compensation must be directly related to an ecological, economic or property damage arising from an oil spill or gas leakage.

(iv) A formal notice of rejection of claim must clearly indicate the value of claim rejected and the value accepted if any.

(v) Except otherwise provided where an independent verification and valuation report to a claim for compensation has been made, such claim shall become payable within 30days of receipt by the responsible party of such evaluation.

(vi) A verification and valuation report must clearly show the spill on which the claim is made, the qualifying particulars of the claimant to the claim, the nature of the damage being assessed, grounds on which the report is based, the verification perimeters, assessment of value particulars, rationale for valuation and total valuation.

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Compensation

Third Party Liability.

(vii)Where there is an objection as to the verification and valuation report of any claim, the protesting party shall give notice of their objections to the agency.

(viii) Application may be made to a high court judge in chamber to appoint an independent adjuster whose valuation shall be final in determining the applicable value of the claim for compensation.

(ix) The claim adjuster may visit the site or request for more information to evaluate the verification and valuation report on a claim for compensation.

(x) A responsible party shall be bound to pay compensation qualifying under this act within 90 days or within 60 days after verification and evaluation report or 30 days after the decision of an adjuster.

(b) Any person, who pays compensation pursuant to this Act to any claimant for damages shall be subrogated to all rights, claims, and causes of action that the claimant has under any other law.

(c) Where a responsible partyhas made payment before or after an independent verification and valuation report to a claimant for interim, short- term damages representing less than the full amount of damages to which the claimant ultimately may be entitled, subrogation under subsection (a) shall apply only with respect to the portion of the claim reflected in the paid interim claim.

(d) Payment of such a claim shall not foreclose a claimant’s right to recovery of all damages to which the claimant otherwise is entitled under this Act or under any other law.

(e) The responsible party shall be liable to a claimant for interest on the amount paid in satisfaction of a claim under this Act for the period beginning on the 30th day following the date on which the claim is presented to the responsible party and ending on the date on which the claim is paid.

(f) If in any period a claimant is not paid due to reasons beyond the control of the responsible party or where the damage is determined by a verification and valuation report or the finding of a claim adjuster or by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction, no interest shall accrue under this subsection during that period.

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Subrogation

Interest on Compensation

(g) The interest payable under this section shall be calculated at the current average of the highest rate for commercial banks.

(h) no claim may be presented under this section for compensation unless the claim was presented within 3 years after the date on which the injury and its connection with the spill in question were reasonably discoverable with the exercise of due care, in the case of claim made due to damage to natural resource.

(i) Individuals, communities, state, government body, corporations and any other entity claiming genuinely for damage or loss as a result of an oil spill within Nigeria and Nigeria exclusive economic zone or such other jurisdictions within the control of the government of Nigeria may make a claim for compensation jointly or severally.

There shall be inserted immediately after section 16 of the principal Act, a new section 17 as follows.

17 (a) the Agency shall have power to retain and utilize 25% of funds realized from such fines and penalties as may be payable under this Act for the purposed of oils spill cleanup and remediation including compensation and other such activities for which a spiller is responsible as an interim measure.

(b) all activities for which funds under section 7(h) applies shall be activities related to specific oil spill for which the agency is by this Act to be fully refunded by the responsible party.

Section 26 of the principal Act is amended by –

(a) renumbering the existing section as subsection (1);

(b) adding the following new subsections (2), (3) and (4) immediately after subsection (1) to read:

"(2) The Agency may in pursuance of the provision of subsection (1) of this section make regulations setting specifications and standard relating to the –(a) use of dispersant and contamination remediation

methods;

(b) development of framework to guide operators in Oil Spill Contingency Planning; and

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Amendmentof section 26.

Time Limitation on Damage Claims

Type of Claimants

(c) most appropriate means of preventing and combating various oil spills and its attendant oil and gas pollution.

(3) Any person who contravenes the regulations made pursuant to subsection (2) of this section commits an offence and shall on conviction, be liable to a fine not less than N5,000,000 and additional fine of N500,000 for every day the offence subsists.

(4) Where an offence under subsection (2) of the section is committed by a body corporate, it shall on conviction be liable to a fine not less than N100,000,000 and additional fine of N2,000,000 for every day the offence subsists.”.

There shall be inserted immediately after section 26 of the principal Act, the following new sections –

27 (1) Every licensee or lessee engaged in petroleum operations shall submit to the Agency for approval an environmental management plan, within six months after the effective date; or after being granted the licence or lease.

(2) The environmental management plan shall contain the licensee’s or lessee’s written: environmental policy, objectives, and targets; and commitment to comply with relevant laws, regulations, guidelines and standards;

(3) The environmental management plan shall:

(a) establish initial baseline information and a program for collecting further baseline information concerning the affected environment to determine protection, remedial measures and environmental management objectives;

(b) investigate, assess and evaluate the impact of the licensee or lessee’s proposed exploration and production activities on:I. the environment; and

II. the socio-economic conditions of any person who might be directly affected by the petroleum operations.

(c) develop an environmental awareness plan describing the manner in which the applicant intends to inform his employees of any environmental risks which may result from their work and the manner in which the risks must be dealt with in order to avoid pollution or the degradation of the environment; and

(d) describe the manner in which he or she intends to:

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Insertion of newsections 27.

Environmental Quality Management

i. modify, remedy, control or stop any action, activity or process which causes pollution or environmental degradation;

ii. contain or remedy the cause of pollution or degradation and migration of pollutants; and

iii. comply with any prescribed waste standard or management standards or practices.

(4) The Agency, in consultation with the Ministry of the Environment shall approve the environmental management program if:

(a) it complies with the subsection (1) of this section; and

(b) the applicant has the capacity, or has provided for the capacity to rehabilitate and manage negative impacts on the environment.

(5) The Agency may call for additional information from the licensee or lessee and may direct that the environmental management program in question be adjusted in such way as the Inspectorate may require.

(6) The Agency may at any time after he or she has approved an environmental management program and after consultation with the holder of the licence or lease concerned, approves an amended environmental management program.

(7) When considering an environmental management program, the Inspectorate shall consult with the Federal Ministry of the Environment and the State Ministries of Environment within which the licence or lease is situated and with any other relevant bodies within which the licence or lease is situated.

(8) The Federal and State Ministries of environment, and any other bodies that the Inspectorate may consult, shall submit their written comments within thirty days of the date of request.

28. -(1) An officer of the Agency may, in the course of his duty, at any reasonable time and on production of his certificate of designation if so required –

(a) enter and search with a warrant issued by a court, any premises including land, vehicle, tent, vessel, floating craft including Maritime Tankers, Barges of Floating Production, Storage, Offload (FPSO) and oil and gas facilities or any inland waters and other structure, at all times, for the purposes of conducting inspection, searching and taking samples for analysis which he reasonably believes, carries out activities or stores goods which contravene environmental standards or legislation relating to oil and oily wastes management;

(b) examine any article found pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection, which appears to him to be an article to which

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“Power to Enter Premises.

this Act or the regulations made under apply or anything which he reasonably believes is capable of being used to the detriment of the environment in the petroleum sector;

(c) take a sample or specimen of any article to which this Act or the regulations apply or which he has power to examine under paragraph (b) of this subsection;

(d) open and examine, pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection, any container or package which he reasonably believes may contain anything to which this Act or its regulations apply or which may help in his investigations;

(e) examine any book, document or other record found pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection, which he reasonably believes may contain any information relevant to the enforcement of this Act or the regulations and make copies thereof or extracts there from;

(f) seize and detain for such time as may be necessary for the purpose of this Act, any articles by means of or in relation to which he reasonably believes any provision of this Act or the regulations has been contravened; and

(g) obtain an order of a court to suspend activities, seal and close down premises including land, vehicle, tent well head, vessel, floating craft and oil gas facilities or any inland waters and other structure whatsoever.

(2) A written receipt shall be given for any article or thing seized under subsection (1) of this section and the reasons for such seizure shall be stated on such receipt.

(3) An article seized under this Act shall be kept or stored in such a place as the officer of the Agency may direct and shall be returned to the owner or the person from where it was seized if the article upon analysis or examination is found to conform with the requirements of this Act or regulations made under it.

(4) An article seized by an officer of the Agency in pursuance of this Act or the regulations made under it, may be submitted to an analyst for analysis or examination and the analyst upon making such analysis or examination shall, issue a certificate or report in the prescribed form, setting forth the result of such analysis or examination and the officer of the Agency shall, on demand, deliver a copy of such certificate or report to the owner of the article if the

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article is to be subject of a proceeding under this Act or regulations thereunder.

(5) In this section, the expression “article” to which this Act or regulations made under it apply are:

(a) liquid, soil, vegetation;

(b) biological and chemical samples; and

(c) such other articles or samples as may be determined by the Agency.

29.-(1) A suit shall not be commenced against the Agency before the expiration of a period of one month, after written notice of intention to commence the suit shall have been served on the Agency by the i ntending plaintiff or his agent.

(2) Subject to the provisions of section 174 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, (which relates to the power of the Attorney-General of the Federation to institute, continue or discontinue criminal proceedings against any person in a court of law), law officers of the Agency may, with the consent of the Attorney-General of the Federation, conduct criminal proceedings in respect of offences under this Act or regulations made under this Act.

(3) In a judicial proceeding for an offence under this Act or any regulation made under it, the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act or depending on the venue, the Criminal Procedure Code shall, with such modification as the circumstance may require, apply in respect of such matter to the same extent as they apply to the trial of offences generally.

30. -(1) Any written law in force immediately before the coming into force of this Act relating to oil, oily wastes pollution management and gas leakages in the petroleum sector shall have effect subject to modifications as may be necessary to bring into conformity with the provisions of this Act and where the provision of any such law is inconsistent with any provision of this Act, the provision of this Act shall prevail, and that other law shall be void to the extent of its inconsistency.

(2) Any written law in force immediately before the coming into force of this Act conferring oil, oily wastes pollution management and gas leakages functions on any other establishment or agency in

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Conduct of proceedings.

Existinglaws.

the petroleum sector is hereby repealed to the extent of its duplication.

The existing sections 27 and 28 of the principal Act shall be renumbered as sections 32 and 33 respectively.

31.The First Schedule to the principal Act is amended by substituting for the word “six” the word “three” in the third line of paragraph 3 therein.

There shall be substituted for the existing section 27 of the principal Act, the following new section, that is -

32. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires –

“Agency” means the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency established under section 1 of this Act;

“Centre” means the National Control and Response Centre established under section 18 of this Act;

“Chairman” means the Chairman of the Governing Board of the Agency;

‘‘Claim’’ means a request, made in writing for a sum certain, for compensation for damages or removal costs resulting from an incident;

‘‘Claimant’’ means any person or government who presents a claim for compensation under this title;

“Constitution” means the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;

“Court” means Federal or State High Court;

“Damages” means injury to natural resources, to real or personal property, loss of subsistence use of natural resources, loss of governmental revenues, loss of profits or earning capacity, and increased cost of additional public services. Damages also include the cost of assessing these injuries.

“Facility” means any structure, group of structures, equipment, or device (other than a vessel) which is used for one or more of the following purposes: exploring for, drilling

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“Interpretation.

Amendment of the First Schedule.

Amendment of section 27.

for, producing, storing, handling, transferring, processing, or transporting oil. This term includes any motor vehicle, rolling stock, or pipeline used for one or more of these purposes.

“Gas” or “natural gas” means wet gas, dry gas, lean gas, all other gaseous hydrocarbons, and all substances contained therein, which are produced along with crude oil or gas, excluding those condensed or extracted liquid hydrocarbons that are liquid at normal temperatures and pressure conditions such as stabilized or field condensate, including the residue gas remaining after the condensation or extraction of the liquid hydrocarbon from gas;

“Governing Board” means the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Governing Board of the Agency established under section 2 of this Act;

“Incident” means any occurrence or series of occurrences having the same origin, involving one or more vessels, facilities, or any combination thereof, resulting in the discharge or substantial threat of discharge of oil.

“Member” means a member of the Governing Board of the Agency and includes the Chairman;

“Minister” means the Minister charged with responsibilities for matters relating to environment;

“Ministry” shall be construed accordingly;

“Mystery Spill or Third Party Spill “refers to an oil spill for which no responsible party (RP) has been identified.

‘‘Natural Resources’’ includes land, fish, wildlife, biota, air, water, ground water, drinking water supplies, and other such resources belonging to, managed by, held in trust by, appertaining to, or otherwise controlled by the Federal Republic of Nigeria (including the resources of the exclusive economic zone), any State or local government or any foreign government;

“Officer” means any employee of the Agency;

‘‘Offshore Facility’’ means any facility of any kind located in, on, or under any of the navigable waters of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and any facility of any kind which is subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

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and is located in, on, or under any other waters, other than a vessel or a public vessel;

“Oil” means mineral oil (or any related hydrocarbon) or natural gas as it exists in its natural state in strata, and does not include coal or bituminous shade or other stratified deposits from which oil can be extracted by destructive distillation but including premium motor spirit, automotive gas oil, low/high pour, fuel oil, aviation fuel, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gases and any lubrication oil or grease or other lubricant oil in its natural state before it has been refined or treated;

“Oil Spill” an occurrence or series of occurrences having the same origin, involving one or more vessels, facilities, or any combination thereof, resulting in the discharge or substantial threat of discharge of oil into or upon navigable waters within Nigeria, adjoining shorelines, or the exclusive economic zone (e.g., oil spill in coastal waters from a tanker).

“Oil Spill Responder” includes Clean Nigeria Associates (Oil Companies Cooperative), Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) or any other oil spill response contractors;

‘‘Onshore Facility’’ means any facility (including, but not limited to, motor vehicles and rolling stock) of any kind located in, on, or under, any land within the Federation other than submerged land;

‘‘Owner or Operator’’ means (A) in the case of a vessel, any person owning, operating, or chartering by demise, the vessel, and (B) in the case of an onshore facility, and an off- shore facility, any person owning or operating such onshore facility or offshore facility, and (C) in the case of any abandoned offshore facility, the person who owned or operated such facility immediately prior to such abandonment;

‘‘Person’’ means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, State, municipality, commission, or political sub- division of a State, or any interstate body;

“Release” means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, discarding or disposing into the environment.”.

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“Remediation” means the process of remedying or restoring an area or situation to its natural (or as close to natural as possible) state”.

“Remove or Removal” means containment and removal of oil or a hazardous substance from water and shorelines or the taking of other actions as may be necessary to minimize or mitigate damage to the public health or welfare, including, but not limited to, fish, shellfish, wildlife, and public and private property, shorelines, and beaches.

“Removal Costs” means the costs of removal that are incurred after a discharge of oil has occurred or, in any case in which there is a substantial threat of a discharge of oil, the costs to prevent, minimize, or mitigate oil pollution from such an incident

“The Responsible Party” of an incident is the person, business, or entity that has been identified as owning the vessel or facility that caused the spill.

“Tank Vessel” means a vessel that is constructed or adapted to carry, or that carries, oil or hazardous material in bulk as cargo or cargo residue, and that operates on the navigable waters; or transfers oil or hazardous material in a place subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;

‘‘Vessel’’ means every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water, other than a public vessel.

The term Navigable Waters encompasses more than bodies of water large enough to accommodate a boat. The term may also include streams, creeks, and wetlands that empty into larger rivers and lakes as well as their adjoining shorelines.

33. This Act may be cited as the National Oil Pollution Management Agency (Establishment, Etc.) (Amendment) Act 2012.

The existing second Schedule to the principal Act is amended to include as follows;

(16) Federal Fire ServiceMobilize federal fire service to combat fire that may result after an oil spill and general rescue operations.

(17) (1) Nigeria Customs shall ensure easy access and egress of oil spill equipment, hips and vessels into and out of Nigeria.

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Short title.

(2) Immigration Service shall ensure the expeditious movement of experts into and out of the country.

The existing Third Schedule to the principal Act is amended to include as follows;

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

(This note does not form part of the above Act but is intended to explain its purport)

This Act amends the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (Establishment, Etc.) Act 2006 to provide, among other things, statutory power for the Agency to charge adequate fines, introduce criminal offences and penalties in order to ensure strict compliance with all existing environmental legislation in the petroleum sector.

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