PIGB most politicised bill in NASS history -Akpatason

Henry Omunu, Abuja

Deputy Majority Leader, House of Representatives, Hon. Peter Akpatason (APC/Edo), has described the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) as the most politicised piece of legislation in the history of the National Assembly since 1999.

The over-politicisation of the bill by various and entrenched interest groups, he said, has resulted in the delaying and non-signing of the legislation into law by past administrations.

Speaking to House correspondents on Sunday, the House deputy majority leader, opined that in the overall interest, growth and survival of the petroleum industry, all arms of government, including stakeholders and experts in the oil and gas sector must sit on a round-table to reach a consensus on how to proceed with wording of the bill to ensure its passage and signing into law.

According to him, the interest groups are reaping heavily from a dysfunctional system being operated in the oil and gas industry and are therefore, committed to ensuring that they continue to sink their teeth in the nation’s major revenue earner.

He warned that for the bill to be passed by the 9th National Assembly and assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari, politics mustn’t be brought into the conceptualisation and consideration of the bill, otherwise, the same fate will befall it.

Said Hon. Akpatason, a former national president of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG): “The PIB is the most politicised bill in this National Assembly; from the executive to the legislature, there are a lot of interests.

“The refinery blocks and a lot of people are benefitting from a dysfunctional system. To correct this, it is for the executive and legislative arms of government to sit and discuss with experts in the sector; we must depoliticise this bill.”

Our correspondent recalls that the PIB was first forwarded to the National Assembly in 2008 as an executive bill by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. The sixth National Assembly failed to pass the bill and it was re-introduced to the National Assembly in 2012 by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Remarkably, only 47 out of the 360 members of the House of Representatives in the seventh National Assembly were present in 2014 when the bill was passed into law and expectedly, failed to get the constitutionally required concurrence from the Senate.

In the 8th National Assembly, the Senate on April 17, 2019 passed the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), the governance part of the PIB, a second time after Buhari earlier declined assent to the bill.

The governance part of the bill was passed by both chambers in January 2018 leaving the onus on the President, who is also Nigeria’s oil minister to assent to the bill.

While withholding assent to the PIGB in August 2018, Buhari expressed reservations with some responsibilities of the Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

Specifically, the President kicked against the provision to retain as much as 10 per cent of the revenue generated by the commission as well as expansion of the functions of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF).

In the new bill, the Senate agreed with Buhari’s submission and reduced the revenue generated by the regulatory commission from 10 per cent to five per cent and also removed the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) from the new bill.

Former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, during the ongoing ministerial screening, gave reasons why the rejected the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB).

According to Malami, the PIG bill was fundamentally rejected among others, by the President because of the fact that the interest of the host community was compromised.

“In the sense that self-serving sections were brought into it, conferring powers on an individual as against the institution and the public interest element of the role of the President requires that the public interest should be factored more as against public or individual interests,” he said.

In concept, the PIB is aimed at assisting the government in the overhauling of the petroleum industry, establishing efficiency and transparency in both upstream and downstream sectors and bringing operations in the industry in line with international best practices.

The PIB also seeks to increase government’s revenue from oil and lay down a strengthened legal and regulatory framework for the oil industry.

According to the provisions of the bill, the National Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NPRC) will be charged with regulating the entire industry, cutting across the downstream, midstream and upstream sectors.

It will replace the current Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Petroleum Inspectorate and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).