By Mohammed Bello

It took a long while coming and at some point its status and whereabouts became a subject of controversy. But it appears the long wait for the Petroleum Industry Bill may soon be over as Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Deziani Allison-Madueke yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, submitted a review of the draft bill to President Goodluck Jonathan.

The report was a product of a committee set up six months ago to review the document which had generated much discourse in the oil and gas industry.

This was as the new Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, pledged that service, transparency and professionalism will drive his regime at the corporation and that he would work with all stakeholders to achieve the collective dream.

Although she said the submission to the National Assembly for passage into law was at Jonathan’s discretion, she expressed confidence that the team that worked on the document did a good job which will address local supply as well as strengthen the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to stand as a viable and globally competitive outfit.

She said it took the committee over six months to come out with what she considers a perfect document in the interest of the country given the enormity of the revision they undertook which spanned fiscal regime, reconfiguring of NNPC to be able to play assigned roles as well as administrative roles of entities in the sector.

Asked about the likely date of submission, she said: “We will go forward now as directed and prepare for the presentation to the Federal Executive Council, my assumption therefore is that within the next 10 to 14 days, it will be in their hands. But, again, that will be at the pleasure of Mr. President. Ours is to present it and review it with government stakeholders as it is done for every bill that is done for the government to present.

“It has taken a long time. It went through the entire gamut of the sixth session of the National Assembly and it did not get promulgated into law. In agreement with the seventh assembly, we took it back and completely reviewed it again. This is not a small bill, it is a critical bill for this country and for our oil and gas sector, therefore at this point, government will do the final review and put it in front of the FEC for approval; part of that process is that it will go through the Attorney-General’s office.

“Nigerians should understand that we have been in a hurry for a long time to put this bill out but we will try to ensure that by the time it enters the National Assembly, we are very comfortable with it and we are putting forward a bill that we believe the oil and gas sector can stand on and can grow on for many years to come in this country.”

On why it took them that long to get the bill ready, Allison-Madueke replied: “Because of the extensive revision of the bill that has been done. A lot of details have gone into it; we have looked at the fiscal regime, we have looked at the reconfiguration of the NNPC to ensure that going forward, it becomes the commercial entity it should have been all along. We have also looked at other administrative roles within the gamut of the sector as well. I think that the teams have done a very good job; we are very pleased.”

Continuing, she explained that the President has directed them to interface with other stakeholders before deliberations prior to presentation to the National Assembly to address possible areas of concern and create a common front for the needed synergy for its easy passage.

Areas which she said received extensive review include templates for calculations, fiscal gas regime, domestic gas supply and making departments in the sector function according best global standards and practices so that the Ministry would be professionally run.

“The fiscal regimes used are so much different. The manner and templates for various calculations have been looked at differently and other fiscal areas. The issue of domestic gas and fiscal regime for domestic gas has been looked at robustly. The issue of the reconfiguration of the NNPC to ensure that going forward, it becomes the commercial entity that it is supposed to be and we can actually grow a first rate national oil company that over the years will grow to compete with other national oil companies of the likes of Petronas, Petrobras etc.,” she said.

Also speaking with State House correspondents, newly appointed Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, said he will bring service, transparency and responsible leadership to the office which will change the perception of Nigerians of the Corporation.

According to him, achieving that would be easy since the NNPC was populated with professionals with appropriate expertise, adding that once passed into law the PIB will touch on all aspects of the oil and gas and make Nigerians get the best out of it.

“We must reposition NNPC for better service; we must reposition it to support the economy. We will work very hard to work with the Nigerian public, all the stakeholders. We shall be transparent and responsible. We will work towards changing the perception. NNPC staff is dedicated to service, they are professional, and there are areas of improvement that we can bring to bear.

“You will agree with me that in the recent past, we have had quite a number of challenges; a lot of eyes are on us on the way we do our business. Those criticisms have been taken on board, my new management will plough them back into the system, we will review our processes and we will reposition NNPC for growth,” Yakubu said