NASS to mount pressure on Buhari over PIGB signing – Saraki
The National Assembly will continue to mount pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari to get his assent on the Petroleum Industrial Governance Bill (PIGB), Bukola Saraki, President of the Senate and third man in the Nigerian political hierarchy said.
“The resolution by the legislature to mount pressure to ensure the bill gets presidential assent has become necessary, given its importance to development of the oil and gas sector in Nigeria”, the News Agency of Nigeria, an online government media, quoted Saraki saying at a dinner held at the on-going 24th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja on Monday.
The Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) is a fraction of a more comprehensive Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) that was first formulated in 2003, aimed at reforming the petroleum industry.
In May 2017, the 8th senate led by Bukola-Saraki passed the PIGB into law after a clause-by-clause consideration and amendment of the report by the chamber.
The bill was later harmonised and passed by the Senate after the House of Representatives passed its own version of the bill
The PIGB is expected to achieve among the following, creation of an efficient and effective governing institutions with clear and separate roles for the petroleum industry; establish a framework for the creation of commercially oriented and profit driven petroleum entities to ensure value addition and internationalization of the petroleum industry; promote transparency and accountability in the administration of petroleum resources of Nigeria; and foster a conducive business environment for petroleum industry operations.
The new bill gives legal backing to the possibilities of regulated pricing with the creation of the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF).
The regulatory commission is empowered to determine fair pricing for petroleum products, while the equalization fund will be used to set a uniform fee all over the country.
On July 3, 2018, the PIGB was sent to the president for approval. However, President Buhari has withheld assent on the bill, citing constitutional and legal flaws in the bill. .
He identified the provision of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill permitting the Petroleum Regulatory Commission to retain as much as 10 per cent of the revenue generated as one of the reasons why he declined assent to the bill.
He noted that the provision unduly increased the funds accruing to the commission to the detriment of the revenue available to the federal, states, Federal Capital Territory and local governments in the country.
The bill is yet to be assented to by the president and cannot become law until the president inks his signature on the document.
The Senate president said that it was unfortunate that the bill had not been assented to, adding “we took it as a responsibility to drive that bill to a level it has never been in a decade’’.
“We passed the governance bill and it went to the executive. What I expected considering the kind of work that was done was for both arms to seat down, because the issues that were raised are not issues that are not surmountable”.
“Unfortunately, after so many months, the bill has come back with query that can easily be trashed out in a day session.
“Secondly, we had the fiscal bill and we have taken it to the point that has never been archived, but I believe a lot of the operators will want to ask what will happen to the fiscal bill if the governance bill was not assented to.
He said the observation made on the bill was not enough reasons to stop its assent because of the huge positive impact it would make in investments in the sector.
“Because as you know, there is no serious investment going in the oil and gas sector because people are not sure of what to expect. Thus, our intension is to go back to the executive and seat down with them in the interest of Nigeria. ’’
On cost of governance, Saraki said it was huge but added that there were some wastages that could be reduced.
The Senate president said the fight against corruption must be transparent, and credible, adding that effort should also be made to prevent it.
“For example, the main area where we produce our major revenue is mainly in the oil and gas sector.
“But when you look at corruption cases, I am not sure you will find many of the cases in that sector, the fight is so selective.
“But if it is transparent, you should start from where you are producing your large source of revenue. If you can tackle corruption in the sector, there will be less leakage down the line.
“For example today, we are back to spending close to 3.6 billion dollars petroleum subsidy, so apart from the national assembly, which anti-corruption agency is looking at that, there should be a transparent process and approach in fighting corruption.
“If we can make the petroleum sector most efficient which accounts for large revenue, government will be more efficient.
MICHEAL ANI