The exact status of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) is yet to be ascertained, fuelling controversies over that very important bill passed by the National Assembly two months ago.
Findings by BusinessDay show that even some of the federal lawmakers who worked on the bill that holds so much promise for Nigeria’s oil sector and the entire economy could not explain the documents when engaged.
While a highly placed source in the House of Representatives disclosed to our correspondent that the bill was at the National Assembly’s legal department, confirming the position of Ita Enang, senior special adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate). But a senator, however, insists that the Bill has since been transmitted to the President for assent.
“As of Monday, when I asked about the PIGB, I was told that it is still with the Legal Department,” the source, who did not want his name in print, said.
But when asked about the controversy surrounding the harmonised PIGB, the vice chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (upstream), Gershom Bassey, insisted that the bill is already with the Executive.
“We are not aware (if PIGB is missing). We have passed the bill so it should be with the Executive,” the federal legislator said in a text message to our correspondents on Tuesday.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker, however, promised to look into the matter.
On his part, Joseph Akinlaja, chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (downstream), who refused to respond to BusinessDay’s inquiry, said: “Go and meet Namdas, he is our spokesman.”
Also speaking, Abdulrasak Namdas, chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, explained that the chairman, Ad-hoc Committee on PIB, Ado Doguwa, had failed to respond to his calls on the status of the bill.
Speaker Yakubu Dogara had during the public hearing on the three bills: Petroleum Industry Administration, Fiscal and Host Community.
bills, held on May 15, 2018, informed captains of industry, management of OICs that the “Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, 2017 has been passed by both the House and Senate and is now before the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for assent.”
The PIGB, which introduced new reforms in the governance of the oil industry and the longest serving bill in the National Assembly, was harmonised and passed by both chambers of the National Assembly in March this year.
In statement last week by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang, he said the bill was still undergoing some legislative processes in the National Assembly.
“Further to several enquiries by the media, interest groups and the public in respect of the within named Bill, may l please state that the said Bill has not yet been transmitted by the National Assembly to the president.
“From my enquiries, the bill is still undergoing standard operating legislative processes of the National Assembly preparatory to transmission, please,” the former lawmaker had said.
The development has raised concerns about the status of 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.
