Assent to Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, Dogara Urges Buhari

• Assent to Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, Dogara Urges Buhari

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, on Thursday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to give his assent to the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill once harmonised with the Senate’s version earlier passed in 2017. The House had joined the Senate in considering and adopting the report of the PIGB on Wednesday at its plenary in Abuja for third reading.

The bill sets out the governance structures for the petroleum industry by unbundling the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and opening up the sector for investments.

Dogara said in Abuja that the National Assembly had to initiate its own version of the PIGB after it waited in vain for the executive to forward the bill to the legislature.

The PIGB is an aspect of the comprehensive Petroleum Industry Bill.

This means that other controversial aspects such as host community rights, access to oil blocks, taxes, royalties and the role of multi-national bodies have yet to be passed by the National Assembly.

Other bills dealing with most of the controversies are still pending at the legislature.

Findings indicated on Thursday that the National Assembly this time round opted to pass the PIB in piecemeal to avoid the mistakes of the past that saw the bill always being rejected.

A statement by Dogara’s media aide, Mr. Turaki Hassan, on Thursday, said the speaker described the passage of the PIGB as “a landmark achievement by the 8th National Assembly after it was first introduced to the parliament by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2008.”

It added, “The Speaker, however, noted that work would still continue on other aspects of the petroleum industry by the National Assembly in accordance with the 8th Assembly’s Legislative Agenda.”

The new bodies created in the unbundled NNPC include the National Oil Company, the Nigeria Petroleum Assets Management Company, the National Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Ministry of Petroleum Incorporated, and the Petroleum Equalisation Fund.

In the PIGB, the power to regulate the industry is vested in the Petroleum Regulatory Commission. One of its duties is to “promote an enabling environment for investments in the petroleum industry.”