A bill seeking to establish Bitumen Development Commission for official regulation of bitumen exploration, development and exportation, has passed through its first reading at the Senate.
The bill sponsored by Jimoh Ibrahim (APC Ondo-South) at the plenary on Thursday, is intended to make bitumen an alternative revenue-generating product in Nigeria. Africa’s largest economy is said to have the second-highest deposit in the world after Canada.
Ibrahim said details of the intendment of the proposed commission would be made in his lead debate for the second reading.
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The proposed commission as projected in the draft bill, according to the lawmaker, should be sited in any of the three towns with high deposits of bitumen in Ondo State which are Ode – Irele, Agbabu and Igbotako.
He said the proposed commission when established, would also facilitate the execution of road infrastructure across the country and create jobs for Nigerians, particularly geologists whose expertise would be needed in its exploration.
Ibrahim said if the proposed legislation scales through in both the Senate and the House of Representatives with the attendant establishment of the commission after presidential assent, it will be the first law on exploration, development and possible exportation of bitumen in Nigeria.
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