House’ll Pass PIB Within Six Months – Gbajabiamila
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said the House is determined to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill within the next six months.
Gbajabiamila said the House would ensure that it passed a PIB that would be satisfactory to all.
A statement issued on Tuesday by the Special Adviser to the Speaker on Media and Publicity, Lanre Lasisi, quoted him as saying this when a delegation of the Oil Producers Trade Section under the Lagos State Chamber of Commerce and Industry visited him.
statement was titled ‘We’re determined to pass PIB in six months – Gbajabiamila…says House ready to carry stakeholders along’.
Gbajabiamila said, “On the PIB, there are two things that the House would want to do. First, the House is determined to pass the bill within the next six months, or probably less, because the clock had already started running from the time it was presented.
“Two, the House is determined to pass a PIB that is satisfactory to all. I know it’s difficult to satisfy everybody, but we will try our best to satisfy everybody.”
The Speaker also said the House would ensure that it carried all stakeholders along in working on the draft legislation until its passage.
He urged members of the OPTS led by the Chairman, Mr Mike Sangster, to avail themselves the opportunity they had at hand by reaching out to the House Ad Hoc Committee on PIB to make their inputs.
Gbajabiamila expressed concern over the submission by Sangster that the PIB in its present form would not make the Nigerian oil and gas industry competitive globally.
Sangster had raised concerns about the present form of the PIB, which he said if passed the way it was, would negatively affect Nigeria’s competitiveness in the global market.
He noted that in the past, the African continent attracted about $70bn of investment in the oil and gas industry but that only about $3bn came to Nigeria despite being a major player continentally.
When the Speaker sought to know from Sangster if the PIB had any positives, the OPTS chairman responded in the affirmative, noting that the PIB represented the much-needed reforms in the sector.
