Budget: Senate rejects N200m ministry’s proposal to re-package PIB
Senate Committee on Gas Resources has rejected the sum of N200 million allocation demanded by the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources in the 2016 budget for the re-packaging of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
Speaking during his ministerial screening last year, Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum, had assured that the bill would be sent to the National Assembly in the first quarter of 2016, as cluster bills.
This comes as the committee also rejected request for allocation of additional N200 million for the review of the Nigeria Gas Master Plan.
The ministry, while defending its 2016 budget before the committee, said it needed N200 million for the passage of the PIB in the National Assembly.
Jamila Shuaru, permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, while making presentation at the committee’s sitting, insisted that the amount was needed for the re-packing of the bill.
But chairman of the committee, Bassey Akpan, backed by other members of the committee, said the proposal was unnecessary.
According to Akpan, the bill was already with the National Assembly, as the proposal by the ministry could be attributed to the N2.2 trillion budget deficit.
BusinessDay reports that the House of Representatives is currently treating the bill as private member bill.
“This bill is already with the National Assembly. I don’t think you need the money. This could be one of the reasons why we have so many deficits in this year’s budget. Unless you can justify this expenditure, we need to do away with this,” Akpan said.
The panel also disagreed with the ministry officials over the N200 million proposed in the 2016 budget for the review of the Nigerian Gas Master Plan.
It discovered that funding request for the plan had been a recurring figure in previous budgets.
Speaking further, Shuaru said the country could not meet her gas needs because, according to her, “Exigencies worked against the success of the programme.”
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE