Senate passes Petroleum Industry Bill

The Senate has passed the long-anticipated Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB.

The bill was passed during Thursday’s plenary after careful consideration of the report of the Joint Committees on Petroleum. 

Before passing the bill the Senate met behind closed doors with the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari for deliberations.

The passage of the bill comes exactly 13 years after it was first presented to the National Assembly in 2008.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on 28 September 2020, presented the PIB to the National Assembly for reconsideration.

The Bill seeks to introduce changes to the governance, administrative, regulatory, and fiscal framework of the Nigerian oil and gas industry, to ensure transparency, strengthen the governing institutions, and attract investment capital, among other objectives.

Senate President Ahmed Lawan has said the house look forward to the President signing the bill as soon as it is transmitted. He added that the bill got the input of both the executive and legislative arms of government.

In the approved bill, the Senate approved a funding mechanism of 30 per cent of NNPC’s profit from oil and gas for frontier basins. This fund is for oil exploration in frontier states.

The bill proposed 2.5 per cent Equity Share Holding for Host Communities while the committee recommended five per cent.

The Equity Share Holding for Host Communities was top among the demands of individuals and groups at the public hearing of the bill