The Nigerian Senate has passed the long-awaited Petroleum Industry Governance Bill after a clause-by clause consideration of the report of its Joint Committees on Petroleum Upstream, Petroleum Downstream and Gas.
Presenting the report on the Bill, at the Senate plenary of Thursday 25th May 2017, Chairman of the Joint Committees, Sen. Omotayo Alasoadura( APC: Ondo) stated that the Bill sought to introduce reforms that would promote transparency and make the oil and gas sector more profitable. Specifically, he stated that the objectives of the Bill included creating an efficient and effective governing institutions with clear and separate roles for the petroleum industry; establish a framework for the creation of commercially oriented and profit driven entities that would add value, promote transparency and accountability in the administration of petroleum resources in Nigeria and foster a conducive business environment for Petroleum Industry operations.
Sen. Alasoadura also informed the Senate that the Joint Committees in achieving its mandate, conducted several meetings and adopted an action plan that served as a guide in achieving the recommendations in the report. He further disclosed that in arriving at its report, the Committees had conducted a 3-day public hearing on the Bill where it considered the submission of memoranda by stakeholders and the general public; hired the services of consultants; visited similar Oil and Gas producing countries; held retreats for the consideration of the clauses in the Bill and collated reports from the outcome of the public hearing.
In addition, he mentioned that the Committees had taken into consideration the submission and recommendations of various key stakeholders in the petroleum sector resulting in the following observations that:
- The laws governing the Petroleum Industry had become obsolete and as such the Oil and Gas industry needed major overhauling, transformation and reformation;
- The application of obsolete laws had brought about lack of investment limiting the growth of reserves in the country; and
- A well-reasoned and crafted law could attract as much as $60billion in added investment to the industry in 3 years.
In view of the above-mentioned observations, the Committees recommended that:
- There was need for accelerated consideration and passage of the Bill into law and its immediate implementation for maximal utilization of the nation’s natural resources; and
- The amendments, deletion and insertions made to sections of the Bill be approved by the Senate.
The Chairman was also of the view that the Bill would address the nation’s current state of recession if passed into law. Speaking on the Bill’s passage after few amendments and adoption of the Committee’s recommendation therein, the Senate President Bukola Saraki (APC:Kwara) congratulated the 8th Senate for the passage of the Bill which had been stalled for many years.
It should be noted that the Bill if eventually passed by the House of Representatives and signed into law by the President, the Nigeria Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NPRC) will be created to replace the Petroleum Pricing & Products Regulatory Agency (PPRA) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
Click here to view the report and Click here to view an analysis of the Bill.
