Unconventional gas exploration and regulating risks: what can Nigeria learn from western countries?

The study from the regulations in the US and UK forms the background for learning opportunities and challenges for Nigeria.<br><br>The possibility and the difficulty of learning from pioneers, and the problems of implementation in a country with poor environmental protection is studied on the basis of theories of policy convergence, policy learning, lesson-drawing and policy transfer. These theories provide an insight on why and how societies as they get more industrialised, begin to learn and copy the policies of more developed countries and draw lessons from experiences in more developed countries.

The theories also show the difficulties in learning, especially due to national differences. For Nigeria, learning from the UK and US would be feasible but still challenging. Nigeria historically shares ties with the UK.

Moreover, it has similarity in political structure with the US. As Nigeria has traditionally a much weaker risk regulatory regime, with less prevention and precaution, learning can be expected to be difficult as risk regulation<br>theories show. By building on the theoretical framework of learning and risk regulation and by undertaking a comparison of pioneer countries, this research fills an important gap in the literature by providing a clear way forward for regulating fracking in Nigeria.