Petroleum industry bill tops lawmakers’ agenda

234Next

12 September 2011

Petroleum industry bill tops lawmakers’ agenda

Immediate passage of the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law would top the agenda of legislations to be handled by members of the National Assembly as they resume from vacation Tuesday.

The long delay in the passage of the Bill has been a source of major concern to most industry observers and stakeholders, who allege that the country is losing several billion of dollars in the process.

But the passage faced differences along interest lines, between what the government has proposed in the draft document pending before members of the two chambers of the National Assembly, what the multinational oil companies want to see in the proposed new law and what the lawmakers are willing to include in the final bill to be approved.

On each front, pressure has continued to mount on the lawmakers to ensure that they acquit themselves for posterity by ensuring that the final product from their deliberations not only serve the interest of the nation but also stand the test of time.

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Apparently alluding to the fact that the lawmakers may not fully understand the implications of some provisions as contained in the draft bill for their consideration, the NEITI chairman suggested an opportunity for the agency to help in providing vital information that would be of use in their assignment.

“For the avoidance of doubt, NEITI is fully in support of passing the PIB. But it is strongly opposed to the content of the report being considered for passage at the National Assembly now, knowing that it is designed to bend the bill to serve foreign rather than Nigeria’s national interest.

“NEITI, therefore, hereby appeals to the National Assembly to give NEITI an opportunity to give a full scale presentation t