By Dayo Benson

AMID lingering controversy over the proposed Petroleum Industry  Bill, PIB, which is currently before the National Assembly, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Uche Nwokedi, has stated that there was nothing PIB would do for the country that the Petroleum Act was not doing at the moment. The senior lawyer who socialises in the Oil and Gas Law spoke at a media interactive session in Lagos. According to him, “What is it suppose to do that is not being done at present by the petroleum act?”

Uche Nwokedi

Speaking on why refineries across the country are not working, he pointed out that “the problem is not a legal issue but it is a problem that has defied solution.”  Commenting on why it was difficult to secure judgement against major oil companies operating in the country, he explained that “major oil companies are thorough and very detailed, they are always well prepared.”

Reacting to insinuations that the practice of Oil and Gas is  elitist and restricted to certain circles, he pointed out that “there is no special ingredient that make people feel included or excluded.”  With the falling prices of crude oil at the international market, Nwokedi advised that the country should develop other minerals and reduce its dependence on oil. On the issue of Local Content Act in the oil and gas sector, the head of Nwokedi’s chamber, Mr Ashimiu Ayodeji observed that the Act has recorded a level of success, but stressed that the enforcement had not been encouraging.

Nwokedi however, added that the Act “is a capacity building instrument.” He said that the indigenous oil companies had done well because they were responsible for 10 percent of production. The Senior Advocate who is also the publisher of Nigerian Oil and Gas cases in Nigeria said that the legal profession had done well in the country and it has played the role of the mediator. He commended the outgoing  president of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA,  Mr Augustine Alegeh, SAN, whom he said had done well and urged the incoming NBA president should chart his own course, saying that there must  be capacity building for lawyers. “For instance, it addresses the issue of who the oil company would pay compensation to between the community and the land owners,” he said.