Senate Passes PIB Admidst Controversy Over 3% To Communities - EDU-BIZNEWS

Breaking


Thursday, July 1, 2021

Senate Passes PIB Admidst Controversy Over 3% To Communities



Nigerian Senate made history on Thursday as it finally passed the much awaited Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) after the considering the joint report on the bill from the House of Representatives had earlier passed it.

The PIB inherited from the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo's admninistration eventually passed the third reading admidst controversy over the slash from 10% in the original bill to 3% allocation to host communities from crude oil proceed

Mohammed Sabo, chairman of the joint committee petroleum (upstream and downstream) and gas had presented his committee's report which was considered  clause by clause  including  five parts, eight schedules, and 319 clauses and later  put to voice vote.

Sabo during the presentation of the bill explains  the legislation is aimed at “promoting transparency, good governance, and accountability in the oil and gas sector.”

The chairman said the committee recommended that 30 percent of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) profit from oil and gas should be used to fund exploration of frontier basins.

The joint report reads in parts:
“The various obsolete laws currently in operation in the country have been updated and consolidated in this chapter to meet global competitiveness and best practices,” he said.

“A total of 355 amendments were recommended to this chapter while others were retained.”
During the clause-by-clause consideration of the bill in the committee, the percentage that should be allocated to the host communities caused a division among the senators.
At the public hearing on the bill, representatives of the host communities demanded that they be allocated 10 percent.

The joint report further reduced five percent recommended by the House of Representatives to three percent,  after a meeting of the senators with Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, and Mele Kyari, NNPC group managing director.

After three percent was accepted as what is due to host communities, Thompson Sekibo, senator representing Rivers north-east, challenged the decision to cut down to 3%.
Senate leader Abdullahi Yahaya described it as a bad precedent and urged Sekibo to withdraw his motion.

But  James Manager, a senator representing Delta south supported the motion, saying  five percent was not too much for the host communities.


No comments:

Post a Comment