National Assembly at crossroads over PIB
There are palpable discordant tunes emanating from the different chambers of National Assembly over the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). The implication might mean that the pending bill which is expected to establish the legal and regulatory framework for the Nigerian petroleum industry is dead before arrival. The bill has remained stuck at the National Assembly since 2009 despite the huge impact experts saythe petroleum industry law could have on Nigeria’s economy.
The bill had consistently failed legislative test in the past. YakubuDogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, may have been making the right moves and speeches about the bill but that seems to be a lone voice in the wilderness. It may not be enough to resuscitate the PIB from the intensive care unit, going by the sound bites from the senate and the body language of the executive. The hope being driven by the lower chambers might just be illusory.
The Green Chamber can’t go it alone
Dogara said the House of Representatives said the lower house is taking the initiative by picking up the PIB for a speedy consideration after the executive arm repeatedly ignored calls to send an executive version of the bill. The lower chamber recently organized a stakeholders’ summit to collate suggestions on the new PIB that will be presented for legislation by the House.
“I have on at least three different occasions publicly requested the executive to as a matter of urgency send an executive bill on its intended reforms in the petroleum sector,” Dogara said.
It is deliberate that Section 44 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, apart from vesting the powers to make laws in the legislature, went further to clearly invest it with powers to make laws for the management of the oil and gas sector”, Dogara added.
While denying media reports about the existence of an executive version of the PIB before the National Assembly, Dogara said that lawmakers could no longer ignore the rot in the oil industry.
“In the absence of an executive bill on the matter, two private member’s bills have now been introduced. We urge participants to familiarize themselves with these bills and make necessary inputs at the public hearing stage”, he added.
But history has a way of repeating itself. Few hours before the end of the 7th Assembly, theHouse of Representatives in June 2015, consideredthe report of its Adhoc Committee on the PIB and passed the bill.It was passed after three weeks of scrutiny following the consideration of the various clauses and agreement by members.
However, the bill was not passed by the 7thSenate before the end of its tenure.Without the concurrence of the Senate, the passing of the bill by the 7th session of the House of Representatives was an exercise in futility.
The Red Chamber has other ideas
After the PIB passed second reading in the red chamber, BukolaSaraki, Senate President, ordered the indefinite suspension of further consideration of the bill.Saraki’s directive, according to reports, was in reaction to a staunch opposition mounted against the treatment of the bill by senators of southern extraction who argued that exclusion of vital areas of the bill, one of which is the host communities’ fund, from the new bill was, not in the best interest of their region.
Before then, Saraki had boasted that the billwould be passed in Senate, for subsequent assent by President MuhammaduBuhari, under his leadership.
The removal of the Host Community Development Fund, as captured in the original PIB, re-awakened ethnic and geopolitical consciousness in the country. While the North is against the 10 percent royalty proposed for host oil communities, the oil producing regions in the Niger Delta is favorably disposed to the proposal.
The proposal now is that the bill must be broken down into several workable, practical and functional laws so that the various issues involved could be tackled at different times, thus, the re-christening to Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB).
Resolving Niger Delta unrest seems the priority now
Recent media reports reveal that resolving Niger Delta’s unrest may be the priority for now. The PIB is effectively on hold until tensions ease in the restive Niger Delta region, the country’s oil hub.
“We have to hold it because of all the problems in the Niger Delta,” TayoAlasoadura, chairman of the Senate committee on petroleum resources, said adding that “as soon as things improve, then it will come to the front of the line again.”
“There is a deliberate effort to keep things waiting so we donot accentuate what is happening there,” he said, apparently referring to the issue of House Community Development Fund.
Ghana’s legislature recently enacted the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act 2016 to replace the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 1984. The bill was first laid before Parliament in 2012. The law includes elements such as ensuring the Minister of Petroleum publishes a register of all petroleum contracts and agreements signed with oil companies, which will be available to the public (however this does not imply the actual agreements and contract documents will be available to the public). These among several other clauses would ensure a higher degree of public access to information about the government’s dealings in the oil and gas industry.
FRANK UZUEGBUNAM