NUPRC , NNRA join forces to lower oil costs, boost safety
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The push to fix regulatory overlap is driving a new partnership between Nigeria’s oil and nuclear watchdogs.
NUPRC’s Commission Chief Executive, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said the industry’s maze of rules is hurting business.
“The only way we can safeguard investments is to reduce our cost of operations and when you have a multiplicity of laws, the likelihood is that you will have higher costs because each law normally will come with its own fee and charges,” she noted at NUPRC headquarters during a recent meeting with NNRA Director-General/CEO Dr. Yau Idris.
Eyesan stressed the need to tackle gaps and duplicate regulations to improve ease of doing business; she has appointed senior NUPRC officials to work directly with NNRA, saying, “We have identified critical areas on both sides and we believe that as we collaborate, we can close existing gaps.”
In her remarks, she said NUPRC and NNRA will partner to enforce radiological safety in oil/gas operations while cutting overall operating costs.
Speaking in a press statement issued by Eniola Akinkuotu, Head, Corporate Communications and Media, the NUPRC boss explains that while NUPRC handles technical, commercial, and operational oversight of oil and gas exploration and production. NNRA manages radioactive materials possession, use, transport, disposal and promotes safe use of radiation tech across industries.
Explaining further, Eyesan said the upstream sector is one of Nigeria’s biggest users of radioactive sources and radiation-emitting equipment for well logging, industrial radiography, and nucleonic gauging.
On his part, Dr. Idris said NNRA relies on NUPRC cooperation to meet its mandate. He wants a “single window approach” where both agencies share info instead of making operators submit the same data twice.
The statement reads in part: Oil/gas extraction brings Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials to the surface. NNRA is asking NUPRC to ensure operators do radiological impact assessments as part of their Environmental Impact Assessments, and to embed NORM management protocols into NUPRC’s upstream environmental guidelines.
Both agencies will also collaborate on training and knowledge sharing around radiation protection and safe operations.
That captures the cost-cutting angle from paragraph 3 while keeping every detail.
