The House of Representatives has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently in his capacity as new Minister of Petroleum send a revised Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, to it for quick consideration. This was as it explained that the size of the bill as posited by Dr. Ibe Kachikwu is not the problem but its early submission.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, made this call yesterday at the opening of a two-day dialogue organised by the National Institute for Legislative Studies, NILS, in Abuja with the theme, “Dialogue on Economy, Security and Development”.
Noting that the PIB failed to scale through third readings in the sixth and seventh assemblies, Dogara stressed that its passage in the eighth assembly had become imperative because of its importance to the survival of the country’s economy.
He advised that the earlier the bill was sent to the National Assembly, the faster the chances of its passage, and stressed that, “We cannot meaningfully discuss the improvement of the national economy without discussing priority legislation in this field. Undoubtedly, one of the most important pieces of legislation is the Petroleum Industry Bill.
“This is necessary because oil and gas still accounts for over 70 per cent of our foreign exchange earnings in spite of the rapid fall in oil prices. We therefore cannot afford not to organise the sector in such a manner as to benefit the nation.
“In this regard, may I call on the president as the Minister of Petroleum to as a matter of urgency transmit a bill to the National Assembly on how his administration intends to reorganise the petroleum sector.
“The PIB has had a checkered history. It was introduced late in the life of the sixth assembly and was not passed. In the seventh assembly, a private members bill was introduced in the first month of that assembly based on the experience of the sixth assembly.
“However, the last administration informally indicated that it would prefer an executive bill on the matter, which took over two years to materialise. It was passed only by the House of Representatives very late in its tenure without the Senate concurring.
“Investment decisions in this field cannot continue to wait. Clarity on the legal framework for oil and gas in Nigeria is crucial to our economy. Contrary to the assertion that the size of the bill is the problem, the fact is that an early introduction will lead to an early passage.”
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