|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
About three months after both chambers of the National Assembly passed the harmonised version of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), controversy continues to trail the proposal that holds so much for the petroleum industry.
At Senate plenary on Thursday, Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan, moved a motion that the harmonised bill be brought back for ‘fresh legislative action’.
This, he said, was as a result of gray areas observed in the proposal during clean-up by the National Assembly Legal Department.
Consequently, the bill, which was passed in March this year by both chambers, was on Thursday referred to the Senate Conference Committee.
The Conference Committee is expected to fine-tune the controversial areas and submit its report for approval.
Relying on Order 1 (b) of the Senate Standing Orders, Lawan disclosed that the National Assembly Legal Department, which was carrying out a clean-up exercise on the bill for onward transmission to the President, observed some contentious areas.
He therefore moved a motion that the bill be referred to the Conference Committee that earlier worked on them.
The section which dwells on Practice and Procedure of the Senate provides that: “In all cases not provided for hereinafter, or by Sessional or other Orders or practice of the Senate, the Senate shall by Resolution regulate its procedure”.
Moving his motion, Lawan said: “Relying on Order 1 (b) of our Standing Order, the Senate resolves that the bills be referred to the respective conference committee – Conference Committee on Climate Change and Conference Committee on the Petroleum Industry and Governance Bill, respectively – that had earlier worked on them to consider the observations raised by the Director of Legal Services and report back to the Senate within one week”.
He was seconded by Senate Minority Whip, Phillip Aduda.
In his remarks, Senate President Bukola Saraki, urged the committees to present the report next week.
“The two committees, Senator Tayo Alasoadura and Buka Ibrahim, we have a deadline of one week for this report to come out before we go on break. We must consider the conference report and pass it,” Saraki said.
There are indications that the National Assembly may embark on break from next week.
Recently, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang, had insisted that the Presidency was yet to receive the bill.
The proposal was first introduced as an executive bill in 2008 by then president, Umar Yar’Adua. The Sixth National Assembly (2007 to 2011) failed to pass it.
Again, it was introduced as an Executive bill to the National Assembly in 2012 by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
However, while 47 out of 360 members of the House of Representatives in the Seventh National Assembly (2011 to 2015) passed the bill at the twilight of their tenure, they failed to get the concurrence of their counterparts in the upper legislative chamber.
In the Eighth Senate, the bill which is one of the economic recovery bills, was introduced as a private/member bill and sponsored by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Tayo Alasoadura.
The PIGB is the first of four bills which replaced the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). The other three other components of the bill are: the Fiscal Framework, Host Communities and Petroleum Industry Administration Bill.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
