The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has asked Nigerians to make input into the Legislature’s deliberations on the Bill now before it by submitting their memoranda before finally passing it into an Act.
Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Hon Mohammed Monguno, made the appeal on Wednesday during the committee’s inaugural meeting on the PIB barely 24 hours after the House leadership referred it to the committee for further appraisal.
While assuring that the Legislature is committed to overhauling the oil and gas sector to give the economy a boost, the lawmaker pointed out that this would be achieved through the passage of the PIB which scaled through the 2nd Reading in the House on Tuesday.
Specifically, the PIB contained five chapters, namely Governance and Institutions, Administration, Host Communities Development, Petroleum Industry Fiscal Framework, and Miscellaneous Provisions as well as seven Schedules.
The schedules are, Right of Pre-Emption; Principles of Negotiating Incorporated Joint Ventures; Domestic Base Price and Pricing Framework; Pricing Formula for Gas Price for the Gas Based; Industries; Capital Allowances; Production Allowances and Cost Price Ratio Limit; and Petroleum Fees, Rents and Royalty.
By its provisions, the PIB seeks to provide for Legal, Governance, Regulatory and Fiscal framework for the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, the Development of Host Communities, and for related matters.
The Bill when passed is expected improve the clarity of structures, roles, accountability, transparency, and overall efficiency and effectiveness of the institutions in the Oil Industry.
Hon. Monguno said: “Under our watch as a Committee, which I am privileged to Chair, it is a general consensus that the passage of this Bill is long overdue. We are taking the time to review what has been done by the previous Assemblies and what we need to do differently.
“Prior to the referrer of the Bill, the Leadership of the House, the Senate, and the relevant committees of the National Assembly, has been briefed by the Hon. Minister of Petroleum with his team, wherein most of the concerns and controversies contained in the previous drafts have been significantly addressed with this present draft.
“Going forward, the Committee will do its best by engaging various Stakeholders, civil societies, and the general public by subjecting the Bill to detailed and public scrutiny to ensure that Nigerians are carried along. We are confident that this piece of legislation will stand the test of time. In as much as we are eager to pass the bill, we will not circumvent the legislative process, it is our hope and believes that the Bill will be passed by the end of the first quarter of the year 2021.
“The Committee has taken the liberty to create a Website which will serve as one of the platforms where stakeholders and interested members of the general public can download the text of the Bill and also upload comments/inputs/memoranda to same.
“The Website is particularly important because, it enables all Nigerians so long as you have internet access, irrespective of where they might be or leave, to participate in the legislative process. The address of the Website is www.hrpib.org.ng
“We are by this notice calling on the Stakeholders and interested members of the general public to visit our Website, for updates on the Committee‘s activities, to download the text of the Bill and also upload memoranda to same”, the lawmaker added.
