President Muhammadu Buhari has refused to assent to the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) transmitted to him last month by the National Assembly.
The President reportedly hinged his refusal to assent to the bill on the fact that the bill would substantially vitiate the powers of the President, Minister of Petroleum Resources as well as that of the Minister of State, if assented to ibased on its present provisions.
In separate Executive Communications to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Buhari was reported to have queried the enormous powers transferred to technocrats in the petroleum industry by the bill, promising however that his refusal to sign the bill would not negatively affect the fiscal policy thrusts of his administration.
However, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang, said on Wednesday that some of the reasons adduced by the media as necessitating the President’s refusal to assent the bill were untrue.
Enang recalled that the reasons why President Buhari did not sign the PIGB had be communicated to the leadership of the National Assembly on July 29, saying that making the reasons public when they have not been deliberated upon by the Legislature is wrong by convention.
He clarified: “By convention, it is inappropriate to speak on the content of the Executive Communication addressed to the Legislature until same has been read on the floor of the plenary.
“But I plead for the understanding of the Legislature that due to the misrepresentations in the public domain and apparent deliberate blackmail which if not promptly addressed may set both the executive and the legislature against the public and even the international community, this be excused”, the Presidential aide added.
According to him, some of the issues raised by the President in the Executice Communication to the Legislature related to the provision of the bill permitting the Petroleum Regulatory Commission to retain 10 percent of the revenue generated.
Enang said that such provision unduly would increase the funds accruing to the Commission to the detriment of revenue available to the federal , states and local governments as well as the Federal Capital Territory.
He clarified further that there were also some other legislative drafting concerns, which if assented to in the form the draft bill was transmitted to the President, would create ambiquity and conflict in interpretation.
The former lawmaker also cited expanding the scope of the Petroleum Equalization Fund and some provisions in divergence from the present administration’s policy and indeed conflicting provisions on independent petroleum equalization fund as some of the reasons why the President declined to assent the bill
He expressed the hope the clarifications made by him on why the bill was not signed by the President would answer some of the questions being raised on the issue until the Executive Communication is read at plenary..
It would be recalled that the PIGB was passed by the National Assembly in March, 2018 and later transmitted to President Buhari by the National Assembly last month.
The bill, which was initiated during the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s tenure and sent to the 6th National Assembly in 2008, has not only gone through extensive and elaborate deliberations and subsequent amendments of its provisions over the past decade, yet the provisions remain still enmeshed in controversy.
The Senate had on March 28 this year passed the PIGB having adopted the report of the conference committee of the PIGB, which harmonised the versions earlier passed by both Senate and House of Representatives.
In its current provisions, the harmonised version of the bill seeks to unbundle the NNPC and merge its subsidiaries such as Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR and Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) into one entity, amongst other aims.
Amongst the bill’s objectives are, transforming the administration of the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the Nigerian petroleum industry. It also creates a framework that will free up acreages that are not being developed by current licensees and lease holders
The bill also ensures effective management of the environment by petroleum operators and administrators.
In addition, it provides also a framework to unleash midstream activities which will open up the market for the supply of gas and other downstream products, for economic growth and provides much needed legal backing for the deregulation of our downstream petroleum sector.
If eventually enacted into an Act, the PIGB has the potential of creating opportunities for new investors and attract substantial new investment to the nation’s oil and gas industry with the attendant multiplier effects on various sector of the economy.
