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PIB Bill will be top priority for National Assembly in 2013

By Ottoabasi Abasiekong on December 28, 2012

Considering how vital and sensitive the Petroleum sector is to the Nation, the National Assembly in the year 2013 will be focused and committed to fast-tracking and facilitating the final passage of the long awaited ‘Petroleum Industry Bill’, which is said to have been long overdue.

Ndoma Egba who is to anchor the debate on the general principles of the bill, said when the National legislators resumes from their Christmas and New Year break on January 16,2013 the PIB will be the major crux of discussion.

He said “the Bill has taken into consideration, the many compelling issues in the petroleum sector and seeks to comprehensively capture the legal, fiscal, health, environmental, safety and governance requirements of a most complex industry”.

The first version of the bill was aborted in the Sixth Senate because several versions of the bill were discovered to be in circulation amongst the two chambers of the National Assembly ,signifying discordant tunes that was dangerous for the polity.

When passed into Law the PIB will enable and guarantee efficiency, innovation, capacity building, breaking up of new grounds in the Oil and Gas Industry that will open up the sector to become a strategic energy hub in the globe.

The Petroleum Industry Bill is structured into Nine parts , with the second part dealing on the Institutional and Policy framework which is also key to revolutionizing the Industry and making it attractive for prospective investors.

Speaking further on the technicality and viability of the Bill, Senator Ndoma Egba said “a significant feature of the bill is the incorporation of the current loose joint venture arrangement between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) representing the Nigerian state and the Independent Oil Companies (IOCs)”.

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