By 13yrs After, House Of Reps Finally Passes Petroleum Industry Bill
After been plagued with delay for straight 13years, the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill was on Thursday passed by the House of Reps after scaling through the 3rd reading.
When fully passed into Law, the PIGB will provide the governance and institutional framework for the petroleum industry and other related matters.
The Bill will see the creation of National Petroleum Commission which will take over the activities of the current Department of Petroleum Resources. Also contained in the 191 pages bill is the unbundling of the current Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) into the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, provides for the establishment of Federal Ministry of Petroleum Incorporated, Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Nigerian Petroleum Assets Management Company and National Petroleum Company and Petroleum Equalisation Fund.
According to Hon Victor Nwokolo who led the debate on the floor of the lower chamber of the National Assembly, the PIG Bill was passed by 30 lawmakers within 23mins. He disclosed that the House Committee adopted the Senate version of the Bill.
The bill also provides that “Upon the recommendations of the new commission, the Minister of Petroleum Resources can grant, amend, renew, extend or revoke any licence or lease required for petroleum or production, pursuant to the provisions of the Act or any other enactment.”
The power for issuing and revoking licenses was also domiciled in the commission, as well as allocating petroleum production quotas in a non-discriminatory manner.
