Senate to receive final report on PIGB April 24
Senate will receive the final report of the protracted Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) on April 24, 2017, three months behind the January deadline given by Senate president, Bukola Saraki.
The report will be presented by the Joint Senate Committee on Petroleum, comprising of Committees on Petroleum Upstream, Downstream and Gas.
At the public hearing of the bill in December last year, the Senate president had assured that the final document would be ready for consideration in January 2017, but that did not happen.
According to a schedule on the final stages of the committee’s work, members of the committee will on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, hold their final joint meeting at a day retreat in Abuja.
During the session, the committee members would receive further input, deliberate on their findings and recommendations and conclude their report for submission to the Senate.
They are expected to submit the final printed copy of the report to the Senate on April 6, 2017, while the main report is expected to be laid before the Senate on April 24, 2017 for final consideration and approval.
The PIGB previously known as Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is one of the 11 economic reform bills before the National Assembly, meant to help Nigeria out of economic recession as well as improve Nigeria’s ranking in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business report.
Nigeria occupies 169th position out of 190 countries in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business index for 2017.
The bill is the longest in the National Assembly, having been first introduced to the Sixth Assembly in 2009 by the administration of late President Umaru Yar’Adua.
Sponsored by Tayo Alaosuadura, the PIGB provides for the Governance and Institutional Framework for the Petroleum Industry.
Objectives of the bill are to: create 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 that ensures value addition and internationalisation of the petroleum industry; promote transparency and accountability in the administration of the petroleum resources of Nigeria and foster a conducive business environment for petroleum industry operations.