The
Senate had earlier passed the bill in May 2017, pending when the House of
Representatives would do the same before it would be presented to the president
for signing into law. Signing of the PIGB into law, though a token compared to
what the section needs, is one good thing for the oil and gas subsector that
has been mismanaged for decades. The behemoth called the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) needs to be reorganised for effectiveness and
accountability. President Muhammadu Buhari should therefore accent to the bill
as soon as it is presented to him.
The
National Assembly should, however, expedite action on the other aspects of the
petroleum industry bill, for example, the Host Community Bill, that was
extracted from the original PIB.
That
original PIB was tinkered with to satisfy sectional and other interests.
Otherwise, the fundamental objective was to “Vest oil and gas resources in the
sovereign state of Nigeria” which was expected to change the existing order,
whereby foreign interests dominate Nigeria’s oil industry while Nigerians are
sidelined.
The
passed PIGB therefore is only a part of that original bill and its sole aim is
to unbundle the NNPC. In essence, this PIGB effectively removes the issue of
sovereignty of Nigeria over her oil resources from the reforms being originally
sought while focus is largely on NNPC governance and corruption issues. In
reality, therefore, little has really changed but it is better than nothing.
The
House first passed the PIGB some 15 years after the original PIB was drafted
and presented to the National Assembly. The House’s ad-hoc Committee on
Petroleum Industry Bills made the recommendation which was adopted by the House
at the plenary.
The
PIGB provides for the establishment of Federal
Ministry of Petroleum Incorporated, Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission
(NPRC), Nigerian Petroleum Assets Management Company and National Petroleum Equalisation Fund.
With
the passage of the bill, NPRC would take over the functions of Petroleum Inspectorate
(PI), the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Petroleum Products
Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
Deputy
Chairman, Ad-hoc Committee on Petroleum Industry Bills, Victor Nwokolo (PDP, Delta), who led the debate on the report,
explained that some subsidiaries of the NNPC had also been merged into an
entity to be known as the Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NPRC). He
said the House Committee adopted the Senate’s version of 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. The first legislative assembly, under Obasanjo,
actually passed the bill but President Obasanjo refused to sign it into law.
Nigerians expected a prompt passage when it was first introduced but were
disappointed by the refusal of the president for whatever reason.
The
bill was re-presented under the Umaru
Yar’Adua administration, and ever since then has lingered. Four legislative
assemblies sat over it to no avail. It was disheartening that at a point, the
Federal Government renamed the PIB as Petroleum Reform Bill (PRB), which seemed
to foreclose the prospect of having the bill passed in its original design.
The
re-awakened interest in the bill under the Buhari administration was a welcome
development. While it is heartening that the two houses of the National
Assembly finally passed 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. Even now nobody should rejoice.
From
experience, the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) did
not make the organisation to be 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 its opaqueness. To what extent is it
guaranteed under the new structure that the NNPC would henceforth be
transparent and accountable? Finally, how would the new bill benefit ordinary
Nigerians?
More
importantly, granted that the bill has been passed it is in no way a substitute
for fiscal federalism. Not until the country is restructured along the lines of
true federalism that gives component units of the country power to fully
exploit resources in their domain would there be peace, progress and harmony.
(Punch)
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