Impact of Gas Flare on Human Life and Wellbeing of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State

This paper reviews the impact of gas flares on human life and wellbeing of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area. Historically, it is said that gas flaring is the burning off excess natural gases in the course of exploration and exploitation of petroleum products as a way of removing dangerous gases with lower harm to human health and the environment, but the monitoring of gas flare is a challenge in Nigeria today. It is difficult to quantify the gases release during exploration and exploitation of petroleum products because of inadequate reports of gas flare volumes through financial, commercial reputational favour rather than the ultrasonic meter suitable type of meter for flare volume measurement proposed for use in Nigeria. The negative effect of excess natural gases in the atmosphere is a factor of the inability of government to setup standard environmental preventive policies, programmes and schemes to minimize environmental gas flare needed to achievement set of environmental goals. Some of the toxic pollutants from gas flare activities are: carbon monoxide (CO), Nitrogen oxide (NOx), Hydrogen sulphide (H2¬SO¬4), Sulphur dioxide, particulate matters (PMC) and photochemical oxidants has devastating consequences to human life and wellbeing since the continuous exposure detrimental to people’s linked to health. A case study approach adopted for the study with a descriptive survey design and a sample technique which involves simple random sampling which allows strong statistical inference about the whole group. The findings demonstrated that proximity of residence to gas flare stack are linked to a range of adverse health impact identified risks of gas toxic pollutants and the non-compliance with environmental laws. It is recommended that the compliance to environmental protection laws would protect human life and wellbeing and enhance ecological development, financial viability of gas flaring communities in Nigeria.