20 years after, PIB now awaits Buhari’s assent

After missing at least 20 deadlines since it was first introduced into the National Assembly in September 2008, Nigeria’s lawmakers have finally passed the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and will now proceed to the president for assent.

The bill, now 20 years since its idea was proposed with five parts, eight schedules and 319 clauses, is expected to rewrite Nigeria’s decades-old relationship with its foreign oil partners and alter everything from fiscal terms to the structure of the state-oil firm.

Read Also: We will not allow PIB to pass if it gives undue power to a Minister – Gbillah

Presenting the report on Thursday, Mohammed Sabo, chairman, Senate’s Joint Committee Petroleum (upstream and downstream) and Gas, said a total of 355 amendments were recommended while others were retained.

Sabo noted that the committee recommended that 30 percent of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) profit from oil and gas should be used to fund exploration of frontier basins.

Read Also: PIB: Host Communities Trust Fund divides the Senate as lawmakers settle for 3%

“The various obsolete laws currently in operation in the country have been updated and consolidated in this chapter to meet global competitiveness and best practices,” he said.

During the clause-by-clause consideration of the bill in the “committee of the whole,” the percentage that should be allocated to the host communities caused a division among the senators.

At the public hearing, representatives of the host communities demanded allocations of at least 10 percent of oil firm’s operating expenditure.

Although 5 percent was proposed, the joint committee recommended 5 percent after a meeting of the senators with Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, and Mele Kyari, NNPC group managing director.

After the 3 percent was accepted as what is due to host communities, Thompson Sekibo, senator representing Rivers North-east, called for a “division” to challenge a ruling of Senate president, Ahmad Lawan.

The above development caused fierce arguments among the lawmakers as some senators spoke in favour of the division while others kicked against it.

For instance, Abdullahi Yahaya, a senator representing Kebbi North, described the 3 percent for host communities as a “bad precedent,” adding that his “heart bleeds” over Sekibo’s motion.

Most experts expect the president to give his assent fairly quickly to the PIB, given that the Bill was proposed by the Executive and its drafting committee worked very closely with the National Assembly.

The last attempt to pass the piece of legislation was halted when President Muhammadu Buhari refused to give assent during the eighth Senate under ex-Senate president, Bukola Saraki.

A reason for the rejection of the bill was that there were some sections that sought to whittle down the powers of the minister of petroleum resources and vest the same in some technocrats.

The first government official to promise passage of the PIB was late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua after the bill was first presented to the National Assembly for consideration in 2008, however, it never happened.

In 2009, the then Senate joint committee headed by Lee Maeba, conducted the first public hearing on it in 2009, with the aim of passing it into law that same year, however, it failed to come into limelight.

When Vice President Goodluck Jonathan became acting president in February 2010, Nigeria’s minister of petroleum, Deziani Allison-Madueke, told Reuters in July 2010 that the PIB would be passed by the end of August 2010.

Then in October 2010, she said the bill would become law “well before the end of this year (2010).”