[FILES] Buhari signing the Petroleum Industry Bill 2021 into law. Photo/NNPCGROUPThis automatically converts the PIB into a Petroleum Industry Act , thereby concluding the over two-decade effort to reform Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
IEA was founded in 1973 to coordinate the energy policies of its 28-member countries. Notwithstanding its limited membership, most analysts observe that the IEA remains the single most significant body for energy-importing countries. At the time of its pronouncement, countries such as Nigeria, whose economies were impacted by the COVID-19-induced recession, were beginning to recover.
No other Bill in the history of the country’s fourth Republic had generated as much passion and intrigue as the PIB. This is due to the criticality of the Bill to Nigeria’s economy, which is highly dependent on revenue from oil and gas operations. This was also exacerbated by the fact that most of the laws governing activities in the petroleum industry were enacted more than 50 years ago and are contained in pieces of legislation.