…after recording failures in 3 Assemblies
The Petroleum Industry Bill, otherwise known as PIB has spent 19years in circulation in Nigeria without any meaningful development.
It was a piece of cheering news when Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila announced to Nigerians on Tuesday that the oldest Bill in the corridor of the Nigerian legislature will be passed by the ninth Assembly.
But wait a minute can it really be passed when a particular section of the country hate to hear anything PIB?
This is one question those in the corridor of power need to answer as the Bill has been so politicised that we may need to ask our colonial masters to come back and re-colonise us to pass the Bill.
Going down memory lane, in 2011 at the twilight of the sixth Assembly, the 720 page Bill was killed on the last day of plenary.
It was so painful because lawmakers shamelessly echoed we have not seen alert when the Bill was introduced at third hearing stage.
And when the then Speaker, Dimeji Bankole put the question whether the Bill should fly our lawmakers unanimously ‘killed’ the Bill that could have changed the fortunes of both the lawmakers and their generation yet unborn.
In 2015 at the last day of plenary, the Speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal did the needful, the Bill was passed but the Senate led by Senator David Mark could not concur so technically the Methuselah Bill died again.
By 2019, the Senate led by Senator Bukola Saraki balkanised the Bill into four components but could only pass one component which only captures the legal framework of the oil and gas sector industry in Nigeria.
Saraki outshined the House this time moving like a Trojan and leaving no loopholes.
The Senate initially passed it and the House concurred, but President Muhamnadu Buhari felt otherwise and raised objections to certain aspects.
He had told the lawmakers in simple words that the five per cent derivation for oil and gas host communities was unrealistic.
He also spelt out the terms that as the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources his powers were substantially reduced so no dice.
Saraki did not lose sleep over this development instead the medical doctor turned politician continued to push and this led to the only component that was eventually passed last June, after 19years.
Nigerians are still waiting for Buhari’s assent which may be in vain.
Tambuwal promised and gave it his best shot and Speaker Yakubu Dogara also vowed to ensure its passage.
Gbajabiamila is now the Captain of the House and his counterpart in the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan have vowed that the PIB must-see light at the end of the tunnel.
Barely two weeks ago, Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki raised an alarm that within the first two quarters of 2019 Nigeria lost 22mb to crude oil theft.
Between 2011 and 2014 Nigeria recorded 1.4billion barrels of crude and gas loss to theft.
The table below tells it all.
Loses recorded in just four years;
2011 – 385 Million Barrels
2012 – 402 Million Barrels
2013 – 363 Million Barrels
2014 – 342 Million Barrels
Total- 1492 Million Barrels
The above was discovered as a result of the probe the President Goodluck Jonathan administration instituted to get to the bottom of how Nigeria’s crude oil and gas develop wings when it’s shipped abroad.
How long will the PIB continue to oscillate without really getting the oil sector that feeds the nation to no where?
If the Dimeji Bankole House and the Senate had passed this Bill which President Jonathan would have graciously endorsed there’s no way Nigeria would lose that quantum of crude oil and gas in four years but our lawmakers failed to pass it.
Obaseki has started counting our losses so what happened in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 in the sector only God knows.
An Obaseki is on the saddle hence Nigerians could even read about the losses recorded in just six months.
The PIB again is on the front burner. The last Assembly spent billions to attend and organize workshops in Nigeria and abroad. Tax payers money was spent to conduct public hearings yet technically the Bill that could change our fortunes was not wholly passed.
By 2025 oil may become one of the cheapest products of the world as many alternative energy could have been discovered.
Today we have electric cars and some countries particularly the Asian Tigers are already thinking beyond oil and here is taking us 23years to pass a Bill to galvanise the oil and gas sector. What a pity!
The Late Sony Okosun song of the 80s aptly captures the situation we have found ourselves’which way Nigeria which way to go!
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