The Senate during a plenary |
The Senate yesterday said barring all unforeseen
circumstances, it would pass the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) on
May 16 and 17, 2017.Chairman, Senate committee on Petroleum Resources
(Upstream), Tayo Alaosoadura made the disclosure when the United States
Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington visited the committee yesterday.
Alaosoadura revealed that aspects of the Bill that would
take care of the host communities and the fiscal aspect of the industry would
be read for the first time today and passed before the end of the year.
His words: “We ought to have passed the PIGB yesterday, but
because of the demise of Senator Isiaka Adeleke, we decided to hold a special
session in his honour. That was why we could not pass it. But we have already
agreed that the bill will be considered and passed between May 16 and 17.”
Symington said the United States was willing to offer
professional advice to the country in their efforts to sanitize the oil and gas
industry.Meanwhile, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of
Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers
(NUPENG) have warned that all efforts to revitalise the Nigerian economy would
not be unsustainable if a PIB that places national interest above personal and
sectional interests was not passed into law urgently.
They argued that reforms in the industry would remain
elusive except fundamental aspects of the reform were legislated through the
PIB.Chairman of NUPENG and PENGASSAN Joint National Committee on the Petroleum
Industry Bill (PIB), Chika Onuegbu stated this in a paper titled: “The Funding
Regimes in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry: Challenges, Failures and
Panacea,” which he presented at the second Save Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry
Conference, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State yesterday.
Onuegbu said Nigeria had planned to achieve increased crude
oil production capacity to 3 million barrel per day in 2003 and 4 million
barrels per day by 2010, as well as raise crude oil reserves to 40 billion
barrels by 2010.
In another development, the Senate will today grill the
suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), David Lawal
Babachir over his alleged roles in the misappropriation of funds allocated for
Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in the North-East.
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