The National is set to transmit the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) to the President for his assent.
This followed the adoption of the report of the Conference Committee of PIGB at Senate plenary on Wednesday, three months after both chambers of the National Assembly passed the conference committee report.
In May, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang, had insisted that the Presidency was yet to receive the bill.
However, at last Thursday’s plenary, Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan, had explained that the inability of the Clerk to the National Assembly to transmit the bill to the President for assent was due to the legal advice received from the National Assembly Legal Services Directorate, which observed some contentious areas in the bill.
Presenting the report, Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Upstream, Tayo Alasoadura (APC, Ondo State), explained that while the committee rectified few contentious areas recommended by the Legal Services Directorate, most provisions were retained.
Some of the contentious areas were in Clauses 13, 17 (1) (e), 47(1) (d), 33 (1), 63 (1), 95 (2), 102 of the bill.
For instance, the Directorate observed that while Clause 13 of the proposal establishes the Board of the Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NPRC), there is no provision for Secretary of the board.
In its recommendation, the panel said: “The Committee accepts the request to create the office of the Secretary for the Commission who shall also serve as the (non-member) Secretary of the Board, while rejecting the request for creating a Secretary for the Board of the Commission.
“In line with this, the request for creation of Secretary for the Board in Section 13 is denied while the request for same in Section 20 of the Bill is granted”.
On the fears expressed by the Directorate that the exclusion of the National Petroleum Company from the Fiscal Responsibility Act and Public Procurement Act under Clause 102, would lead to issues of accountability and transparency, the panel justified its decision to retain the provision.
According to Alasoadura, “The exclusion of the operation of the Nigeria Petroleum Company from the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and the Public Procurement Act is designed to insulate the Company from the bureaucratic draw-backs to which most government-owned companies and agencies are subject”.
Lawmakers unanimously adopted all the recommendations of the committee.
With this development, the National Assembly is again expected to refer the bill to its Legal Services Directorate for clean-up to enable the Clerk of the National Assembly transmit same to the President for his assent.
In January this year, the Nigeria Extractive Transparency initiative (NEITI), revealed that Nigeria lost investment worth of over $200 billion due to inability to conclude work on the bill.
In a statement, the agency said that its interest on the passage of the PIGB is in view of the urgency and strategic importance of a new law to replace the existing archaic legislation that have aided huge revenue losses, impeded transparency, accountability and investment opportunities in the nation’s oil and gas industry.
At the public hearing on three other Petroleum Industry Bills on Monday in Abuja, stakeholders had expressed worry over delays in the enactment of the bill.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
