CLARA NWACHUKWU

A coalition of civil society organizations in the country has condemned the non- passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, by the outgoing National Assembly before the expiration of their tenure last week.

The refusal to pass the bill comes in spite of repeated assurance by key government officials including President Goodluck Jonathan that the bill will be passed into law before his May 29, inauguration ceremony.

Going down the drain with the refusal of the legislators to pass the bill is over N148million, which was used by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, to push for the speedy passage of the bill. The amount excludes the huge sum spent on the legislative committees scrutinizing the bill.

Expressing regrets and disappointment over the development, the CSOs in a statement said, “We are disappointed that the National Assembly could not consider the Petroleum Industry Bill, along with the Sovereign Wealth Fund Bill, and Freedom of Information Bill, which is a monumental loss to the country considering the huge resources both human and capital that went into the PIB preparation, and we call on the incoming members of the National Assembly to prioritize the PIB in the next Session.”

Huge revenue losses

“This, to me is a waste of resources considering the huge amount of resources that was injected by different stakeholders into the entire process. As we speak, over N481m was spent on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and this amount does not include the huge amount spent by the National Assembly Committees,” Said Rev. David Ugolor, Executive Director, Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ.

The PIB was finally dropped by the House of Representatives on last Tuesday during plenary because the senate had been running at a snail pace on the bill and was unlikely to concur with the House even if the lower chamber concluded its own part of the job.

The CSOs said they had believed in the reassurances by President Jonathan, and the former the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, and other key members of the National Assembly that the PIB will be passed into law before May 29.

“We are shocked and stupefied to hear that the National Assembly sixth session is concluding without passing one of the most important pieces of Legislation that would have stabilized and resolved the uncertainty in the Oil and Gas sector Nigeria,” they added.

They opined that the non-passage of the Bill will impact negatively on the fortunes of the Oil and Gas sector, which accounts for the bulk of government’s revenues and foreign exchange earnings, noting, “Most responsible foreign investors would be scared to invest in an uncertain business environment which the bill sought to address. The Host Oil Communities and all other key stakeholders who have in the last three years worked hard to see that the PIB is passed into law to drive the much needed reforms in key government agencies, such as the Nigeria National Petroleum Company, NNPC, Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, and others would have been disappointed.

Accordingly, the group described the development as a “temporal setback for the PIB Campaigners, as we are not going to be discouraged by the outcome rather we will use the opportunity to reinforce our call on all Nigerians to join the PIB Campaigners to send a strong message to the President to ‘walk the talk’ in Oil and Gas reform in Nigeria.”