Foreign Oil Companies Bribe Legislators $10million Dollars to Pass New Oil Bill!!!

Hmmm so as we all knew that the PIB Legislation was not going
to favour the Big Oil companies like shell etc as it would bring more
revenue to Nigeria, so they have started using their usual tatics of
lobbying our National Assembly law-men with bribes to get the bill watered down
to favour them so that it can be passed before May 29th before the official start
of the New Presidential term.

Summary of the gist of the bill was

1 - More Techology and Business Management Expertise Transfer to Nigerians
employed in the Industry

2 - Reduction of Expatrate workers coming in to do the jobs that Nigerians
should be trained to do

3 - Increase in Royalty payments to State hosting operations & Federal Govt

4 - Stricter enviromental and health controls on Oil Operators

5 - Better renumeration packages for Nigerian Workers and a halt to the
casualisation creeping into the industry ie using temporary staff to do work at reduced wages
ie leading to firing/redundancy of permanent Nigerian Workers.

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Story - http://odili.net/news/source/2011/may/11/811.html

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Legislators paid $10m bribe for petroleum bill passage - Investigation

Yemi Kolapo


Stakeholders in the oil and gas industry have paid some members of the National Assembly the $10m (N1.5bn) bribe demanded for the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, an investigation by our correspondent has revealed.

But the "settlement," according to findings, has not translated into the automatic passage of the bill.

Our correspondent gathered that some members of the National Assembly believed that they might have been shortchanged, hence the delay experienced by the bill. Others have insisted that the provisions of the bill have been watered down in favour of the International Oil Companies.

For the PIB, another source in the petroleum industry, who asked not to be named because he could not speak officially on the matter, said, "We know that the incentive bargain, the $10m we are talking about, has been settled. But there are still some problems involved. The House has begun serious consideration of the bill with a view to passing it soon. But there are still factions that must agree before it sails through. Some say they have benefitted from the largesse, but not enough.Others think that the IOCs have been too favoured.

"These people are saying that the bill has been watered down from what it used to be and that it may have reduced government's revenue in favour of the IOCs, especially as regards the joint venture arrangements. But all the grey areas will be fine-tuned."

Speaking on the development, the Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, said such demands would only create a disconnect between the objectives of the elected and the electorate.

"It is ridiculous. Some people call it lobbying, but that is not what it is in the Nigerian sense. It is democracy for sale, which defeats the purpose. If anybody is to buy legislation that way, he has also bought the legislators. That way, you compromise the interest of the nation for your own commercial interest," he noted.



Our correspondent had gathered from reliable sources in the petroleum industry that some assembly members had demanded $10m (N1.5bn), to be paid up front, from the promoters of the PIB before it would be passed.

"That is what goes on in our democracy. I can assure you that if the PIB will be passed before May 29, 2011 as has been said, it would have cost the relevant authorities $10m. That is the price; it's like a blackmail," a top official in the petroleum industry, who asked not to be named because of the delicate nature of the matter, had said.

Calls to the mobile phone of the spokesperson for the House of Representatives, Mr. Eseme Eyiboh, were not picked, while a text message sent to the same number at about 4pm on Tuesday was not also replied as at the time of going to press.

Those people at the NASS are in money, filthy money