The passage of the
Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) by the Senate, the other day,
represents a good starting point in the effort to re-position Nigeria’s oil and
gas industry. Though, it is not yet clear what the details of the content of
the new bill is after the original Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) was renamed
PIGB, it is, nevertheless, commendable that the bill, which languished in the
parliament for many years, has finally been passed to address some problems
plaguing the oil industry.
There is no doubt that the
original bill was watered down to satisfy some sectional interests. For
instance, while the PIB’s fundamental objective was to “Vest oil and gas
resources in the sovereign state of Nigeria” which is tantamount to changing
the existing order, whereby foreign interests are feeding fat on Nigeria’s oil
while Nigerians languish in poverty, the PIGB merely seeks to unbundle the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). That, effectively, removes the
issue of sovereignty of Nigeria and her oil while focusing on the NNPC
governance and corruption.
The Senate passed the PIGB
14 years after the original PIB was drafted and presented to the National
Assembly. A Joint Committee on Petroleum (Upstream, Downstream and Gas) on the
PIGB made the recommendation which was adopted by the Senate at the plenary. Chairman of the committee,
who is also the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Petroleum, Senator Tayo Alasoadura, said some
subsidiaries of the NNPC had also been merged into an entity to be known as the
Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission
(NPRC). What is NPRC out to do?
Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, lauded the passing
of the bill, saying it would put a framework that will ensure transparency and
accountability, and create an enabling environment for the petroleum sector to
stimulate growth. He expressed hope that Nigerians would be able to benefit
more from the petroleum sector.
The National Publicity
Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bolaji Abdullahi, also commended the Senate for passing the bill
and called on the Yakubu Dogara-led House of Representatives to follow the
example of the Senate by also promptly passing the bill. It would be recalled that
the PIB was first presented to the National Assembly in 2003 under the Olusegun
Obasanjo administration for passage into law. The first legislative assembly,
under Obasanjo, actually passed the bill but the president refused to sign it
into law.
The bill was re-presented
under the Umaru Yar’Adua administration, and ever since then has lingered in
four legislative assemblies which sat over it without doing much. It was
disheartening that at a point, the Federal Government renamed the PIB Petroleum
Reform Bill (PRB), which seemed to foreclose the prospect of having the bill
passed in its original formulation. It then became worrisome which version of
the bill was being renamed since there were many of such flying around.
The re-awakened interest in
the bill under the Muhammadu Buhari administration was therefore a welcome
development and the Eighth Senate under Bukola Saraki deserves kudos. Senator
Donald Alasoadura’s had earlier assured that the bill would be passed latest by
March or April this year without failure as passing the PIB was seen as one
good thing to happen to the oil and gas subsector that has been mismanaged.
While it is heartening that
the Senate finally pass the PIGB, it needs to be acknowledged that, perhaps, no
other piece of legislation has been so politicised, which is why the bill was
delayed and tinkered with. Some pertinent questions now need to be asked. For
instance, what is the purpose of the bill since from all intents and purposes
what was passed is not what was originally presented? What is remaining to be
passed and how long would that take? What does the unbundling of the NNPC
imply?
From experience, the
unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) never made the
organisation more efficient. What is the guarantee that the same problems won’t
arise in the case of the NNPC?
One problem that plagues
the NNPC is opaqueness. To what extent is it guaranteed in the new bill that
the NNPC would henceforth be transparent and accountable in operations and
accountability? Finally, how would the new bill be of benefit to ordinary
Nigerians?
It needs to be stressed, at
this juncture, that although the bill has been passed as a way forward, it
should in no way be a substitute for fiscal federalism. Not until the country
is restructured along the lines of federalism that would give sections of the
country power to fully exploit their resources would there be peace, stability
and progress. Certainly, the centre can no longer have the controlling power
over resources and expect Nigeria to move forward. (Guardian)
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