Finally, the much-awaited Petroleum Industry Bill was passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly, recently. Of the 319 clauses and eight schedules that make up the bill, the ones concerning the host communities and the frontier development of oil have sparked national conversation, threatening to stir up a storm should reservations arising therefrom are not addressed before President Muhammadu Buhari’s assent. For them, giving three per cent, rather than the 10 per cent demanded, to host communities, stretching the definition to oil infrastructure transit communities and using other people’s oil profit to grope for oil in unlikely or impossible places, bring to remembrance some of the on-going open grazing controversy in the country. Chris Paul reports
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After a 20-year journey, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) on Thursday crossed a major landmark as the two chambers of the National Assembly considered the reports of their respective committees on the bill.
The beginning of the bill could be traced to the Oil and Gas Reforms Committee (OGRC) constituted by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. The report of the committee formed parts of the bill which was first introduced to the National Assembly by former President Umar Yar’Adua’s administration in 2008.
Mr Yar’Adua had constituted a committee on the implementation of the OGRC report. A subcommittee chaired by Yinka Omorogbe drafted the bill but that particular bill was marred by controversy. Segun Adeniyi, the spokesperson of the late president, detailed some of the controversies that bedevilled the bill in his book: Power, Politics and Death.
EXPLAINER: What s the big deal about this frontier basin exploration? thecable.ng - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thecable.ng Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Emmanuel Addeh
The National Assembly has jettisoned the request by members of President Muhammadu Buhariâs Economic Advisory Council (EAC) for a single regulatory agency for the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry.
However, the EACâs advice that the federal government should not hold 100 per cent stake in the proposed company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited was heeded to by the lawmakers, who have now set in motion the process of fully commercialising the national oil company.
The Doyin Salami-led organisation charged with the responsibility of advising the President Muhammadu Buhari on economic policy matters in a recent presentation at its sixth regular meeting with the president had opposed a provision in the PIB that recommended two regulators for the industry.
PIB: N assembly opts for creation of two regulatory agencies thecable.ng - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thecable.ng Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.