[size=15pt]NIGERIA. . House of Reps pass Sovereign wealth fund bill

TUESDAY, 17 MAY 2011 14:29 REUTERS [/size]

[size=14pt]The House of Representatives passed a bill to create a sovereign wealth fund on Tuesday, paving the way for Africa's biggest oil exporter to improve its management of often-squandered crude oil earnings.

The bill now needs to be signed by President Goodluck Jonathan to be enacted, after the Senate passed the legislation last week. Lawmakers said the process should be straightforward as the lower house of parliament made no major amendments.[/size]

The fund is meant to replace Nigeria's Excess Crude Account (ECA), a pillar of IMF-backed reforms launched in 2003 into which the OPEC member nation currently puts any oil revenue above a benchmark price set each year in the budget. Critics of the ECA say there is no clear legal basis on which to determine how the windfall oil savings in the account should be shared between the tiers of government -- federal, state and local -- leading to constant political wrangling. The account contained more than $20 billion when late President Umaru Yar'Adua came to power in 2007. (Reuters)

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/typography/the-news/21598-reps-pass-wealth-fund-bill

Beauty of democracy in Nigeria right there. . what the Military couldnt do in 40yrs the Civilians have done. . .
Nigeria will have a bright future with the passage of this bill. . .kudos to our Finance Minister Aganga too

By the way if u are interested in reading the full bill. . pls find it in the link below
Its a well thought out SWF. . . utilizing the santiago principles of openness and accountability. .

FULL BILL. . .click on scrolling link number 5 titled. . National Sovereign Investment Authority Bill 2010to download. . http://www.proshareng.com/reports/index.php

. . .GEJ has done a very important thing to secure Nigerias future with the passage of this bill

surprised that no one has commented yet. . oh well. . .