Tribune / Nigeria: The Nigeria Senate, on Wednesday, flagged off the process of passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), as the bill passed a first reading.
The bill has, however, been rechristened Petroleum Industry and Governance Bill (PIGB) and sponsored by Senator Donald Alasoadura, chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream.)
It was gathered that the two chambers of the National Assembly had recently harmonised a new draft of the PIB renamed PIGB.
The lawmakers at the first reading of the bill, it was gathered, was the outcome of its harmonisation by both chambers of the National Assembly and making it the third time the bill would pass first reading in the Senate.
The Senate also directed its Joint Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream and Downstream), Finance and Appropriation to immediately commence the investigation of joint venture cash calls by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Critics of the government had, however, blamed the National Assembly over prevalent corruption in petroleum industry, which they stated the bill set out to salvage.
The criticisms over non-passage of the bill, it was learnt compelled both Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, to repeatedly urge President Muhammadu Buhari to present a new PIB to National Assembly.
The PIB, it was gathered, was first conceived by the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and sent to the sixth National Assembly.
However, the failure of the sixth National Assembly to pass the bill compelled the immediate past government of President Goodluck Jonathan to re-present the bill to the seventh National Assembly.
The seventh National Assembly also failed to pass the bill as a result of alleged stiff opposition from the Northern lawmakers, especially over the allocation of 10 per cent royalty to oil producing communities in the bill.
The Northern lawmakers, it was found out opposed the provision of host community fund in bill on the ground that Niger Delta region, where oil was domiciled had received more than enough benefits with little or nothing to show for it.
The Senate, on Wednesday, expressed concern over an allegation that the NNPC had been violating rules governing its joint venture cash calls responsibility and consequently, asked its committee to investigate the allegation and directed the committee to come up with sanctions for any known violation of appropriation acts in the oil and gas sector.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Senator Bassey Akpan (Akwa Ibom North-east), where he alleged persistent constraints by NNPC to meet its cash call obligations, a situation he said had worsened the country’s crude oil production output and other activities in the oil and gas sector.
He put the outstanding cash calls obligations in the oil and gas sector at $6 billion.
Akpan argued that cash calls ought to be treated as first line items by NNPC before remittance of available balance on its collectible revenues from crude sales to the federation account.
He said such revenues ought to be handled as approved by the National Assembly.
The lawmaker said it was worrisome that crude oil production from the joint venture between NNPC and IOCs had declined by 47 per cent as at the last quarter of 2015 as a result of Federal Government’s inability to meet its cash call obligation.
He claimed that it was illegal and unconstitutional for NNPC to spend billions of dollars, which he said ought to be used to settle joint venture cash calls on “inconsequential administrative expenses.”
He recalled that the National Assembly had approved over N1 trillion as joint venture cash calls for 2016 fiscal year, saying the legislative institution must ensure strict adherence to the approval as contained in 2016 Appropriation Act and Medium Term and Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
