In line with the need for urgency in reforming the nation’s oil and gas
sector, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Yakubu
Dogara, has disclosed that the National Assembly will soon begin work on
its own version of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
A press statement signed by the Speaker’s special adviser on Media and
Public Affairs, Mr Turaki Hassan, stated that the decision of the National
Assembly to draw up its own version of the bill was reached because of the
urgent need to reform the oil and gas sector.
The Speaker, who made this known while receiving the international board
of Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Nigerian
Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) at the National
Assembly on Monday, also said the bill, which has gone into its final
stages, will be given expeditious consideration on the floor of the two
chambers of the National Assembly.
Dogara also informed the delegation that in line with the resolve of the
House of Representatives to fully work with President Muhammadu Buhari to
implement reforms in the oil, gas and mining sectors, the House is giving
them priority attention in legislative business.
“We have repeatedly – especially my humble self – have repeatedly called
on the Executive to present reform proposals in the petroleum sector.
However, we may not continue to wait for an Executive bill on this subject
matter as we are prepared to introduce the National Assembly’s version;
what we believe should be the legal framework for the oil and gas sector
in Nigeria.”
“We cannot continue to take the blame for non-passage of the petroleum
reform legislation in Nigeria. As I speak with you, work on our own
version has reached advanced stage and hopefully, we hope to introduce it
in both chambers of the National Assembly. If it happens that the
Executive transmits its own version of its own vision of the oil sector,
we have ample provision in the House Rules for us to merge the two. We
will not continue to wait.”
Going further, he said the legislature is determined to ensure that
resource curse syndrome is reversed in the country as a situation where
there is so much poverty in the midst of abundant resources is
unacceptable.
Expressing the desire of the House to partner with EITI, he said it will,
starting from the first quarter of this year, begin the consideration and
debate of the NEITI’s extractive industry audit report on the floor of the
House as this will help to actualise the Eighth Assembly’s desire to be
more thorough with its oversight functions, especially in the oil and gas
sectors.
He further directed the committees on Petroleum (Upstream) and Rules and
Business to introduce and schedule the report for debate before the end of
this quarter.
Earlier, the acting executive secretary of NEITI, Mr Orji Ogbannaya Orji,
who accompanied the incoming chairman of EITI and former prime minister of
Sweden, Mr Fedrick Reinfeldt, stressed the need to fight the resource
curse the country is presently faced with, which is the sole purpose for
which the agency was created.
In his remarks, Reinfeldt commended Nigeria for being one of the first
African nations to key into EITI, while harping on the need for
transparency and prudent use of natural resources.
Deputy head of EITI’s secretariat, Eddie Rich, said while making his
remarks that in order to get more timely data, there is need to publish
online, the account information of relevant agencies such as the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC), oil processing licenses and
contracts to help provide accurate and timely data for oversight and
similar functions rather than relying on NEITI to collate all data from
the sector

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