The Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, PIGB, passed by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki-led Senate, is facing a major setback at the House of Representatives.
This came as a House Committee Workshop on Petroleum, Upstream, in Abuja, on Thursday, stated that the bill passed by the Senate, was not acceptable to Legislators at the Lower Chamber.
Victor Nwokolo, who chairs the Committee, told Journalists at the Workshop, that the Senate worked on and approved only a fraction of the original bill.
For example, he said the Senate’s version of the bill completely ignored the issue of host communities, and concentrated on the unbundling of the country’s top oil company, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
The Lawmaker added that, the House would give adequate attention to the issues ignored by the Senate.
Nwokolo said: “It has passed in the Senate, but they (Senate) have only taken a fraction of it, only one-third of it. What is referred to as the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), is what they have passed.
“But in the case of the House, we are taking it holistically. Like you read in the newspapers, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and Ijaw National Congress (INC), said they did not agree with what the Senate has done, because the issue of host communities has not been addressed.
“If you also follow the proceedings in the House, you will agree with me that we are taking it holistically, because we have dealt with the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB).
“We have also gone through the fiscal and the host community bill, so we are taking it holistically, so that no section of it will be left out”, Nwokolo said.
He added: “The bill has gone through first reading, and by next week, it will go through second reading, and it will be given accelerated attention that it requires.”
On the delay by the House in dealing with the bill, the Lawmaker said they needed to study trends in other parts of the world, with regards to petroleum industry, in order to come up with a law that would be accepted by all.
“Look at the case of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), have you ever heard that NLNG is being shut down for a day? The basic reason is because they have taken care of the host communities. This is what we want to address.
“The essence of this Workshop, is to broaden Members’ knowledge, for them to go home to begin to think. This contentious issue of host communities is that: is it going to be restricted to oil producing communities?
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