Natural Resources, 2014, 5, 884-896 Published Online November 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/nr http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/nr.2014.514076 How to cite this paper: Elenwo, E.I. and Akankali, J.A. (2014) Environmental Policies and Strategies in Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry: Gains, Challenges and Prospects. Natural Resources, 5, 884-896. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/nr.2014.514076 Environmental Policies and Strategies in Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry: Gains, Challenges and Prospects Ephraim Ikechukwu Elenwo 1 , Justine Ayaegbunem Akankali 2 1 Department of Geography and Environmental Management, Faculty of Social Science, University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Nigeria 2 Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Nigeria Email: ephraimelenwo@gmail.com , justinoy3k@yahoo.com Received 6 September 2014; revised 8 October 2014; accepted 24 October 2014 Copyright © 2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract The paper reviews environmental policies and strategies in the Nigerian oil and gas industry sec- tor, assessing its efficiency, challenges and prospects. Essentially, the study established that the Environmental Policies and Strategies of Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry have impacted positively on the Nigerian environment over the years, especially in the area of awareness creation for all stake-holders. In terms of challenges, inefficiency of the regulators due to inadequacy of logistics, poor environmental data base, duplication and overlaps of regulators functions are some of the challenges identified. The prospect of environmental policies and strategies in Nigeria is generally considered to be bright, considering the fact that the industry is still evolving. Relevant recom- mendations were made on how to achieve improvements. Keywords Environment, Policies, Strategies, Nigeria, Oil and Gas Industry 1. Introduction It is very important to note that each time environmental issues are mentioned in Nigeria, the oil and gas indus- try readily comes to mind. The reason for this is that the oil and gas industry in Nigeria accounts for about 90% of the nation’s revenue and can equally be claimed to account for a similarly overwhelming proportion of the nation’s environmental challenges, especially within the Niger Delta, where most of the oil is produced. In other words, environmental policies and strategies in Nigeria significantly take into cognizance the sphere