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Barring last minute changes, after April 25, 2017, Nigerians should expect the the much awaited Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), through its first component, the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) to be passed in a matter of days or weeks.
This indication came following the report that the Senate Joint Committee on Petroleum will lay the final report of the bill before the senate on April 25 for consideration and approval
A statement issued by the office of the Senate President Bukola Saraki stated that the committee will conclude its work on Tuesday April 4, 2017.
The bill, which many believe is the cure to the ills in the country’s petroleum industry, has been awaiting legislative action for the past 17 years.
In a tweet on Thursday evening, Saraki said: “We will break the PIB jinx soon. All stakeholders from communities, agencies, CSO’s have all made inputs to address their concerns”
Below is a statement from the Senate President’s office:
It would be recalled that in order to ease the road to passage for the a revised PIB which was laid before the senate in 2008, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration last year split the bill into four: the Fiscal Regime Bill; the Upstream and Midstream Administration Bill; the Petroleum Revenue Bill and the PIGB set to be passed soon.
The PIGB proposes to establish the Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NPRC) that will be responsible for licensing, monitoring, supervising petroleum operations, as well as enforcing Industry laws, regulations and standards.
The Commission will generally be vested with the roles, rights, assets, liabilities and obligations of the Petroleum Inspectorate (PI), the Department of Petroleum Resources (“DPR”) and the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
Under the PIGB, the portfolio of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will be re- organised, leading to the establishment of three principal commercial entities – the Ministry of Petroleum Incorporated (MOPI), the National Petroleum Company (NPC) and the Nigerian Petroleum Assets Management Company (NPAMC).