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Reps: PIB To Be Passed In March
- Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB)
Barely 24 hours after the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) scaled the second reading, the House of Representatives has said the bill would be passed latest by the end of March next year.
Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on the PIB yesterday, the Chairman of the committee, Mohammed Tahir Mongunu said it is the hope and believe of the House that the Bill will be passed by the end of the first quarter of next year.
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Mongunu, who is also the Chief Whip of the House said: “As you are aware, the journey to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill commenced in 2007 when it was first introduced on the ûoor of the House.
“However, the passage of the bill has evaded three successive Assemblies i.e the sixth, seventh and eight Assemblies.
“I am particularly alarmed that. though the exploration of fossil fuel in Nigeria dates back to the 60s but commercial exploration may only last for another 25 years, it is not to say that we might exhaust the deposit, but that the entire world is focusing on research to develop renewable energy that could turn out to be cheaper and environmentally friendlier.
“That is why it has become expedient, more than ever to leverage on this window of opportunity that the oil exploration present to us as Nigerians, by ensuring that the Petroleum Industry Bill is passed without further delay.”
The lawmaker said in spite of all the effort of the preceding administrations to diversify Nigeria’s mono-economy, the oil industry still remain the mainstay of the economy.
‘Every time there’s signiûcant fluctuations in the price of crude oil, all other sectors of our national lives suffers.
“The Petroleum Industry Bill seeks to provide for Legal, Governance, Regulatory and Fiscal framework for the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, the Development of Host Communities and for related matters.
“The Bill when passed will improve clarity of structures, roles accountability, transparency and overall efficiency and effectiveness of the Institutions in the Oil Industry
The House, at plenary on 24 November, 2020 read the PIB for the second time and referred same to the Ad-hoc Committee on PIB earlier constituted for further legislative action,
“Under our watch as a Committee, which I am privileged to chair, it is a general consensus that the passage of this bill is long overdue.
We are taking time to review what has been done by the previous Assemblies and what we need to do differently.
“Prior to the referral of the bill, the leadership of the House, the Senate and the relevant committees of the National Assembly, have been briefed by the Minister of Petroleum with his team, wherein most of the concerns and controversies contained in the previous drafts have been addressed with this present draft,” he said.
Source: The Nation
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