By Nuel Suji – President of the Senate Bukola Saraki on Wednesday said that National Assembly would pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in tranches as a way out of its non-passage for the past eight years.
Mr. Saraki said the passage of the bill in tranches was necessitated by the need to unbundle its contents into manageable compartments that could be implemented in phases.
The Senate President stated this in Abuja at a three-day public hearing organized by the Senate Joint Committee that is handling the bill.
According to him the Senate would pass the first tranche of the bill and put measures in place for the passage of other tranches, adding that the passage of the first tranche would further tackle persistent problems associated with fiscal framework and host communities.
“This public hearing is another avenue for us to hear from the operators, regulators, experts and other stakeholders in the industry on how to move the industry forward,” Saraki said.
The approach, he explained, was to avoid the previous potholes that stalled the passage of the bill.
“We want to move away from the way things were done in the past during the consideration of such bills, especially fiscal framework and host communities.
“We will push for greater partnership so that the bill will be a win-win for everyone; one that works for government, attractive to oil companies and takes into consideration concerns of the host communities.
“We will also tackle the issues of downstream, gas and environment. We are poised and resolved to deal with all issues related to the industry, albeit in tranches.
The Senate President stressed the need to speed up the controversial bill, noting that, “as a nation we cannot afford any further delay in our effort to reform our oil and gas industry.
“The journey begins now and I assure you that we will guarantee that all of these bills are passed in record time.”
He noted that though the petroleum industry contributed over 90 per cent of the country’s foreign exchange earnings, existing legal, regulatory and institutional structures in the industry were outdated, noting further that the sector had performed far below expectation.
According to him, “it is unacceptable that till date, Nigeria still imports over 90 per cent of needed petroleum products, flares substantial gas produced, damages the eco-system and pollutes host communities.
The senate president added that in spite of Nigeria’s might in the sector, it could not supply adequate electricity to individual homes and industries.
“This situation has undermined our citizen’s standard of living, life expectancy, national energy security.
“It has therefore resulted in other unforeseen fallouts like labour unrest, fuel queues, high cost of delivery of products and unquantifiable wastage of national productivity.
“The oil and gas industry is yearning for good governance, competitiveness, transparency, indigenous participation and accountability,” Mr. Saraki said.
He assured that the bill would be passed in record time.
The Chairman of the Joint Committee, Tayo Alasoadura, observed that the industry must be more efficient and profit-oriented if Nigeria must get out of the present economic recession.
“It is in this spirit that we are beginning today the journey of consultation with stakeholders in the match towards passing the bill,” he said.
