Owing to the failure of the National Assembly (NASS) to transmit the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent 84 days after its passage, Nigeria has continued to lose an average of $41 million potential revenue daily from the oil and gas sector.
Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, the then Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had said, while being screened by the Senate in 2015 for ministerial confirmation, that Nigeria was losing $15 billion annually to the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). At $41 million per day, the revenue loss to the nation could amount to up to $3.5 billion (N1.26 trillion) in the past 84 days. For ease of passage, the National Assembly split the PIB into four, including the PIGB, Upstream Petroleum License and Lease Administration Bill; Downstream Oil and Gas Administration Bill; Petroleum Fiscal’ and Petroleum Revenue Management Bill which includes the Petroleum Host Community Fund (PHCF).
The PIB was designed to sanitise the oil sector of the economy.
On March 28, 2018, the NASS passed the PIGB after 18 years of heated national debate. However, up till date, the bill is yet to reach the table of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Solomon Enang told make it in a telephone conversation on Wednesday that the NASS was yet to send the PIGB for the President’s signature. “No, I can confirm to you that they have not yet transmitted the PIGB to the Presidency,” he said. The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina also confirmed that the President had not received the bill.


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