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The non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by the outgoing National Assembly has drawn the ire of some oil and gas industry stakeholders who described their action as a disservice to the country.

The stakeholders which include Chambers Oyibo, the former group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) , Emeka Okwuosa chairman Oilserve, Eddy Wikina ,managing director of Treasure Energy Resources and former external affairs manager in Shell Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (SNEPCO) all said the non-passage of the bill has stunted the growth of the oil and gas industry.

They described the action of Legislators as monumental failure and colossal waste of national resources, explaining that they dissipated a lot of energy and efforts on reforming the industry for the benefit of the economy without achieving the desired result.

They expressed disappointment that the national assembly members were unable to pass the bill over the years because they were ignorant of the implication of their action.

Oyibo, who spoke to BusinessDay on the sideline of the recent Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas said the legislators failed in their responsibilities to the development of the oil and gas industry for not passing the bill.

“Their action is a complete failure as far as I am concerned”, he said, pointing out that, judging from the point of view of an industry operator, the outgoing legislature was a big disappointment to the nation.

The former NNPC boss said there were so many vital things contained in the bill that should have taken care of some of the issues being complained about today in the oil and gas industry.

“Today, the downstream sector of the petroleum industry is being criticised even by the legislators, but the solutions to the problems in this sector can be found in the PIB if passed into law and implemented”, he noted.

He said the unfortunate aspect of the whole issue was that a new set of legislators would come and would have to be taken through the document afresh, so also a new minister, who might have to go through the same process.

Commenting also at the conference Emeka Okwuosa, chairman and chief executive officer of Oilserv Limited, said when you talk about government, people tend to concentrate more on the executive arm alone, saying it’s not just about the Federal Government, but also the legislature which has a huge duty.

“I can tell you today that, so far, the National Assembly has failed us by not addressing PIB adequately. It is not for the executive arm to draft the law, pass it and execute it; it is a chain”, he posited.