The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, on Monday inaugurated a technical committee to review the just enacted Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 and its implications for the statutory responsibilities of the ministry.
Before the latest action, the ministry earlier indicated a move to push for the amendment of the newly passed PIA to address certain conflict with the mandate of the Weights and Measures Department, particularly in the area of pre-shipment inspection activities at the crude oil terminals.
Specifically, the Technical Committee headed by the director, Legal Services of the Ministry, Muhammed Alhassan, will review the PIA and its implications for the Oil and Gas Export Permit being issued to exporters by CED, review the PIA in relation to the Weights and Measures Act, and its implication for the Department and alos highlight the implications of the Act for the roles of CED and Weights and Measures Departments under the Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme(NESS), amongst other assignments.
In addition, the committee will also suggest appropriate strategy to use in bringing the NESS scheme to FMITI since the scheme is about exports, which is a core mandate of the ministry; suggest ways to remedy the infractions on the responsibilities of the ministry, if any; and prepare relevant letters to President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly.
Giving these details through a statement, the minister’s Media Assistant, Mr. Ifedayo Sayo, pointed out that the Act significantly tampered with some statutory roles of the ministry.
The minister stated: “As a ministry, some of our roles as they relate to the administration of the pre-shipment inspection and the Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme (NESS) had hitherto been under the ministry of finance, and are now under the new commission under the Petroleum Industry Act.”
Adebayo stressed the need by the ministry to leverage on the window created by the review of the Act to enable it play a more significant roles under the NESS in line with its mandate.
He charged the members of the technical committee “to take a professional look at the document, come up with strategies that will help redress the identified issues.
“There is a sense of urgency in the execution of your assignment, so that we can seek the amendment of the infractions on the statutory functions of the ministry, especially through a request to relevant institutions of government.”
He said, “It is important to state that your assignment is critical to the continuity of some of our roles as a ministry. I am confident in the quality of members chosen to undertake this assignment, therefore I task you all to make far reaching recommendations that will help sustain and stabilize our operations”, the minister added.
The committee, which has directors in the ministry as members, has two weeks within which to submit its report.
