International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1992, to which Nigeria and the United Kingdom are signatories, there is the need to address liability issues in oil and gas pollution globally, both onshore and offshore. The International Law Commission (ILC) in its 2003 Report on International Liability in case of Loss from Transboundary Harm Arising out of Hazardous Activities, made recommendations to deal with liability issues by allocating losses among different actors involved in the operations of Hazardous activities. This implies that the ILC is more inclined to address liability issues on an individual basis rather than on the concept of state responsibility. Notwithstanding, it is submitted that the concept of state responsibility, although a principle of international law, should be applied in two categories; both intra and inter-state. That is, as states are under obligation not to cause harm to other states, a state should maintain such obligation not to cause harm to her citizens. In the next chapter, the argument for absolute liability in fundamental rights enforcement with regards environmental pollution caused by oil and gas activities of TNCs is raised; it is a dialectic, taking into consideration the legal and economic implications of what has been discussed in previous chapters, as well as the relevance of legal principles mentioned in the current chapter. In a nutshell, the crux of chapter 6 is to determine whether the standards of liabilities in the torts of negligence, nuisance and under the strict liability rule can be transformed into absolute liability in incidents of environmental pollution relating to breach of fundamental rights of individuals in incidents of environmental pollution.
International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1992, to which Nigeria and the United Kingdom are signatories, there is the need to address liability issues in oil and gas pollution globally, both onshore and offshore. The International Law Commission (ILC) in its 2003 Report on International Liability in case of Loss from Transboundary Harm Arising out of Hazardous Activities, made recommendations to deal with liability issues by allocating losses among different actors involved in the operations of Hazardous activities. This implies that the ILC is more inclined to address liability issues on an individual basis rather than on the concept of state responsibility. Notwithstanding, it is submitted that the concept of state responsibility, although a principle of international law, should be applied in two categories; both intra and inter-state. That is, as states are under obligation not to cause harm to other states, a state should maintain such obligation not to cause harm to her citizens. In the next chapter, the argument for absolute liability in fundamental rights enforcement with regards environmental pollution caused by oil and gas activities of TNCs is raised; it is a dialectic, taking into consideration the legal and economic implications of what has been discussed in previous chapters, as well as the relevance of legal principles mentioned in the current chapter. In a nutshell, the crux of chapter 6 is to determine whether the standards of liabilities in the torts of negligence, nuisance and under the strict liability rule can be transformed into absolute liability in incidents of environmental pollution relating to breach of fundamental rights of individuals in incidents of environmental pollution.