Barring any further delay, the Executive is expected to transmit the much awaited Revised Petroleum Industry Bill to the National Assembly this month for necessary legislative work and passage, report Deji Elumoye and Udora Orizu
“It tells you that when we are able to pass the bill, it won’t change for a long time, because it has taken us about 20 years to get to where we are. It’s now ready to go to the National Assembly. But it has not been watered down. Sylva, in the interview, however, failed to specify the exact date of transmission of the Bill. So, deliberations and debate on the Bill by the lawmakers may likely commence after they return from their two months vacation, which starts on July 23rd.
The Bill then was never passed into law due to objections from the International oil companies and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation over the content in its drafts. In 2015, the then Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu said the PIB was to be amended to speed up its passage. Consequently, the Bill was broken into different parts, to address various aspects of the oil industry.
Currently, the passage of the Bill is also one of the priorities listed by the Ninth National Assembly in its legislative agenda. “What we intend to do as Senators to enhance good governance in Nigeria is to make Nigeria better for the citizens. And of course, the way we want to go is different from the way of the past, because perhaps the goals and targets are different.’’
He added that the interface between both arms would birth a new PIB to be drafted from the scratch, and which would be passed by the National Assembly and assented to by the president before the end of the year. He added that the economy would further get a boost, when the National Assembly passes the PIB before the end of the year and is signed into law.