Reps to consider PIB Tuesday next week - Gbajabiamila

The House of Representatives has slated the Petroleum Industry Bill, 2020 for a second reading next Tuesday.

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The speaker of the house, Femi Gbajabiamila, disclosed this at plenary on Wednesday.

He also called for all motions concerning floods across the country, to be consolidated by the Rules and Business Committee.

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President Muhammadu Buhari had three weeks ago, returned the oil-and-gas sector reforms bill to the National Assembly, after several attempts to make it law in Nigeria failed.

The President had also through a letter, urged the House of Representatives three weeks ago, to speedily pass the Petroleum Industry Bill for his assent into law.

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In the letter, entitled “Transmission Of The Petroleum Industry Bill 2020 For Consideration And Passage Into Law”, the President sought speedy consideration of the 14-year-old bill.

The Bill was first presented before the National Assembly in 2006, and had been through bureaucratic bottlenecks since then.

The letter had read:” Pursuant to Section 58 of Constitution of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), I formally request the consideration and passage into law by the House of Representatives the Petroleum Industry Bill 2020.

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“In particular, the House of Representatives bill combines in a single tone, aspects of significant reforms to the laws governing the Nigerian Petroleum Industry that were previously set out in two distinct drafts legislation, namely, the Petroleum Industry Bill 2020 and the Petroleum Industry Fiscal Bill 2020.”

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Vanguard had exclusively reported months ago that the House had set up a 32-member committee, headed by House Whip, Muhammed Monguno, to look at the bill once again and bring it for speedy passage.

Experts and stakeholders in the oil and gas sector at a conference last week, also tasked members of the 9th National Assembly on the need to expedite action in passing the recently transmitted Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by president Muhammadu Buhari.

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The experts who converged in Abuja on Monday, to suggest ways forward regarding the necessity of having an early passage of the bill, also stressed the need for an efficient and commercially structured National Oil Company (NOC), as well as the determination to create different economies using proceeds from the oil and gas sector.

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