Ahead of the September 29, resumption of the Senate, Emmanuel Paulker, senator representing Bayelsa Central in the National Assembly, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to reintroduce the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) before parliament.
Although the House of Representatives passed the PIB on the last legislative day of the seventh National Assembly, the failure of the Senate to give its concurrence made the passage of the lower house of no effect.
The bill, which was first introduced to the National Assembly in 2009, suffered a number of setbacks and has caused years of disputes between federal lawmakers, Ministry of Petroleum Resources/Presidency and multinational oil companies.
Among other things, the bill was meant to create a conducive business environment for petroleum operations; optimise domestic gas supplies for power generation and industrial development; encourage investment in Nigerian petroleum industry; establish profit-driven oil entities; deregulate and liberalise the downstream petroleum sector.
Speaking on the issue on Monday in Abuja, the chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) in the seventh Senate, Emmanuel Paulker, said the bill was “too important to be introduced as a private bill.”
Paulker, who is currently a member of the Senate, therefore urged the administration of Muhammadu Buhari to reintroduce the bill to the 8th Assembly for consideration.
