By Libby George

UGHELLI, Delta State, Nigeria (Reuters) – Jonah Gbemre often has no electricity, but he says his home is permanently lit at night by the flames of waste gas being “flared” near his home town in Nigeria’s Delta State.

Like Gbemre, nearly half of Nigerians have no stable power supply, yet government attempts to harness gas belching from its oil fields to generate urgently-needed electricity or revenue have stalled.

And experts say that without progress towards its 2030 target of virtually eliminating flaring, which releases carbon dioxide along with polluting methane and soot, Nigeria cannot meet its pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20%.

Graphic – Gas Flaring and Nigeria’s CO2 Emissions: https://graphics.reuters.com/NIGERIA-OIL/GASFLARING/xklvyqmljvg/chart.png

“This flare site makes the nights like days,” said 42-year-old Gbemre, his eyes both bloodshot and milky, something he said his doctor attributes to the burning of the waste gas.

Reuters could not establish