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Confusion trails House of Representatives’ report on PIB

By on October 22, 2014

There are strong indications that contrary to the normal legislative practice, where committee reports are submitted on the floor of the National Assembly as public documents, the report of the Ishaka Bawa-led House of Representatives’ Adhoc Committee on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is being shrouded in secrecy.

This development has raised concern among oil industry stakeholders that the report may not be ready as claimed by the federal lawmakers.

The spokesman of the House of Representatives, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, had stated that the report was ready and billed for presentation.
Mohammed added that the report had already been circulated to federal lawmakers, and would be considered soon on the floor of the House of Representatives.

But THISDAY gathered that the normal legislative practice is for the committee to present the report on the floor and hand it over to the Speaker in an open session before it is circulated to the members.

“Even after a committee’s report is laid on the floor, members can still not get it until the day it is laid for debate. So, it is surprising for anyone to say that the report has been circulated,” said a source close to the National Assembly.

An oil industry operator, who also spoke on the issue, stated that the claim by the spokesman of the House that the report had been circulated to members was an indication that the report is not ready after all.

“The normal procedure is for the committee to submit the report to plenary for circulation to members. Once this procedure is not followed, I will doubt the credibility of the report,” he said.

He also said that both the Senate and the House of Representatives had a joint committee on PIB, which was working collectively on the bill and wondered which report was said to be ready.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Magnus Abe and his counterpart on Gas, Senator Nkechi Nwaogu did not respond to text messages sent by THISDAY on the matter.
Mohammed did not also respond to text messages seeking clarifications on why the report had to be circulated to members of the House before presentation on the floor.

However, some legal experts working with the House Committee, who were contacted by THISDAY refused to speak on the matter, claiming that they are under oath of secrecy.

Though he said the report had been circulated, nobody has seen the report, which is supposed to be a public document, assuming it was presented to the plenary.

The House spokesman had debunked reports that “unseen hands” were frustrating the presentation of the bill, apparently responding to the allegation that money had exchanged hands for the passage of the reform bill.

“We don’t give credence to rumours. The PIB is a very sensitive legislation. A number of issues have come up with political and zonal connotations. There are no unseen hands stalling the presentation of the PIB report. The PIB is ready and will change the workings of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector and also generate employment,” Mohammed had said.

 

[This Day]