Reps to pass holistic PIB to capture host communities, fiscal regulation

The House of Representatives has declared that unlike the Senate, it will pass into law a more holistic Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) that will encompass the interests of host communities and fiscal regulation of the oil industry.

Chairman of the House Committee Petroleum Upstream, Rep. Victor Nwokolo (PDP/Delta), made the clarification on Thursday, while speaking to journalists at a workshop organised by the committee for House members on the PIB.

Rep. Nwokolo, who disclosed that the House will begin the consideration of the PIB next week and that it will be given an accelerated hearing, added that the bill passed into law by the Senate was only one-third of the entirety of the legislation before the House.

According to the lawmaker, the committee decided to organise the workshop for House members to refresh the minds of members on what the House had done in respect of the PIB in the past.

He stated that “the bill has gone through first reading and by next week it will go through second reading and it will be given accelerated attention that it requires.

“It is true, like you said it has passed in the Senate, but what the Senate has done, they have only taken a fraction of it, only one-third of it; what is referred to as the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) is what they have passed.

“But, in the case of the House of Representatives, we are taking it holistically. Like you read in the newspapers, you found the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and Ijaw National Congress (INC) saying that they do not agree with what the Senate has done, because the issue of host communities has not been addressed.

“And if you are also following the proceedings in the House of Representatives, you will agree with me that we are taking it holistically, because we have dealt with the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB).

“We have also gone through the fiscal and the host community bill, so we are taking it holistically, so that no section of it will be left out,” he added.

The essence of treating the bill in its entirety, the House committee chairman added, is because the House resolved to take into consideration what has happened or what is obtainable in other parts of the globe where petroleum is a natural resource, like Alaska, Mexico and Venezuela where host communities are all stakeholders.

“Coming home here, look at the case of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG). Have you ever heard that NLNG is being shut down for a day? The basic reason is because they have taken care of the host community, this is what we want to address.

“The essence of this workshop is to broaden members’ knowledge, for them to go home to begin to think; this contentious issue of host community, is it going to be restricted to oil producing communities?

“Because when you are talking about mineral resources today, it is not only petroleum we are talking about. By the grace of God, the government is trying to give a drive towards other mineral resources, like coal that you find in Plateau, Kogi states and other areas.

“So, when you talk about host communities, it is going to be applicable to all parts of the country, so that it will not be seen as a means of empowering only the Niger Delta region or oil producing communities again.

“These are the essence. We thank God you journalists are here in numbers, you will help us to pass the information to Nigerians, because they have a different view, when you are talking about host community.

“So, what we are doing here today is to refresh members, so that by the time we start discussing the bill, it will move faster than we expect, because it has been three or four weeks since it went through the first reading,” Rep. Nwokolo added.