The latest draft of the Petroleum
Industry Bill (PIB) put together by a
presidential task force would be sent
to President Goodluck Jonathan
within weeks, Group Managing
Director (GMD) of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC), Mr. Austen Oniwon has said.
The GMD’s comments yesterday were
thelatest in a string of
pronouncements by top government
officialspredicting imminent
passage of the controversial oil
reforms bill with none of the
previous deadlines met.
President Jonathan had in a
broadcast last month promised to
liaise with the National Assembly to
expedite action on the passage of
the bill in order to ensure
transparency in the oil and gas
sector.
Specifically, the president had given
the assurance that the latest draft bill
would be completed in June and sent
tothe National Assembly. But some
industry stakeholders who spoke to
THISDAY at the weekend doubted
the feasibility of the new draft bill
reaching the National Assembly this
month, when it was yet to be
submitted to the Federal Executive
Council for ratification.
The PIB had gone through several
drafts in recent years but lawmakers,
the Federal Government and the
international oil companies could
not reach a compromise on the fiscal
regime provided in the previous bill
because of the fear that it will not
favour them.
But allaying those fears in a
telephone conversation yesterday,
Acting Group General Manager,
Group Public Affairs Division, at the
NNPC, Mr. Fidel Pepple, said the re-
worked bill would be sent to the
president before the end of this
month for onward presentation to
the National Assembly.
“I can confirm that the new draft bill
will reach the president before the
end of June. We are very confident
about that and he will thereafter
present it to the national assembly,”
Pepple assured.
Activities in the oil and gas had been
at very low ebb because the much
expected transformation in the
sector that was premised on the PIB
is yet to take place. Sources at the
petroleum ministry said new
investments are not coming in,
while various oil and gas projects
have suffered setbacks.
“Virtually everything in the oil and
gas industry is now at a standstill as
we speak, investment, development
of new and old projects, all of that,
because of the non passage of the
PIB,” the source lamented.
Chairman, House Committee on
Upstream Sector, Hon. Ajibola
Muriana, recently raised the alarm
over current lull in investment
activity in the Nigerian Oil and Gas
industry due to continued delay in
the passage of the PIB. He however
noted that areas of contention were
about to be resolved, assuring that
the House would ensure expeditious
passage of the bill once it is
presented to it.
“We all know the implications of the
bill not passed into law. However,
we are told that those areas of
contention are about to be resolved.
So I can assure you that the bill once
presented to us, definitely, within
the next two weeks or one month,
we will do justice to it,” he said.

Source: http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/jonathan-to-receive-draft-pib-in-2-weeks-says-nnpc-gmd/118351/