Abstract

Environmental pollution arising from petroleum operations continues to pose significant challenges to environmental governance and access to justice in Nigeria. Despite the frequent invocation of the rule in Rylands v. Fletcher, affected communities often encountered considerable difficulties in obtaining effective remedies for environmental harm. This raised an important question: whether the doctrine of strict liability, with its recognised exceptions and defences, remained an adequate framework for addressing pollution resulting from inherently hazardous petroleum activities. This article examined the suitability of strict liability within the Nigerian context and evaluated the case for adopting an absolute liability regime. The paper employed a doctrinal legal methodology, drawing on judicial decisions, statutory provisions, and relevant international instruments. Comparative insights were derived from developments in international environmental law and the principle of absolute liability articulated in M. C. Mehta v. Union of India. The analysis demonstrated that while strict liability represented a significant departure from fault-based liability, its practical effectiveness in environmental pollution cases was undermined by doctrinal limitations that diluted accountability and restricted access to compensation. These limitations were particularly evident where environmental harm was extensive, long term, and difficult to attribute within conventional liability frameworks. The article argued that a carefully designed regime of absolute liability would provide a more coherent basis for allocating responsibility for hazardous petroleum activities. It further contended that liability reform should be supported by complementary institutional mechanisms, including environmental remediation and compensation structures that facilitated timely redress and ecosystem restoration. The article concluded that strengthening environmental accountability in Nigeria required not only regulatory reform but also a reconsideration of the liability principles that underpinned environmental governance. Keywords: Absolute Liability, Strict Liability, Environmental Pollution, Petroleum Operations, Environmental Governance.