Seeingย the fact thatย Nigerians are not finding what is happening with the petroleum bill funny, The government is still yet to make a stable decision.
According to Vanguard Buhari Loses hope as Bukola Saraki makes a shocking decision about petroleum, This is what they posted:
ย There are strong indications that the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB which had passed the first reading in the Senate, might not be passed anytime soon.
The PIB is seen as the only tool for President Muhammadu Buhari to ?structurally reform Nigeriaโs opaque Oil and Gas Industry.
?It could be recalled, that Senator Smart Adeyemi, who represented Kogi West in the 7th Senate, had disclosed that the reason ?why the PIB was not passed during his time, was because there was no provision for oil exploration in the North.Supporting Adeyemiโs claims, a former member of the 7th National Assembly, representing Ukwa East/West Abia State, Honourable Uzoma Nkem, had said that the inability of the House to pass the PIB, was based on politics played by unseen hands.
Earlier, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, during the Ministerial screening, had ?promised to work hand in hand with the 8th senate, to restructure the PIB and get it passed as soon as possible.
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, had also promised the speedy consideration and passage of the said bill?, and re-named it Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, PIGB.
As at April 13, 2016, when the bill was first presented for it first reading, Southern Senators, insisted that the bill must be treated in full, without any portion excised.
They argued that the version paraded had been tampered with, maintaining that the 10 percent royalties reserved for communities was removed, and as such, does not favor the host communities.
According to Vanguard, ?the Senate President, who had been under pressure from the Southern Senators, had recently given a directive for the immediate suspension of the bill.
Recall, that the removal of the Host Community Development Fund, as captured in the original PIB, re-awakened ethnic and geopolitical consciousness in the country.
While the North is against the 10 percent royalty proposed for host oil communities, the oil producing regions in the Niger Delta are favourably disposed to the proposal.
Given that the bill had consistently failed legislative test in the past, the two chambers of the National Assembly, had posited that for it to see the light of the day under the present Assembly, it must be broken down into several workable, practical and functional laws, so that the various issues involved could be tackled at different times.
Under this arrangement, the legislature was to later proceed to work on the contentious areas through different bills, a development some considered as a more realistic approach.
The Petroleum Industry framework was first conceived by the administration of the late President, Umaru YarโAdua, and sent to the sixth National Assembly.
Failure of the 6th Assembly to pass the bill, made the immediate past government of President Goodluck Jonathan, to re-present the bill to the 7th Assembly.
However, the 7th Assembly, failed to pass the bill as a result of stiff opposition from Northern lawmakers, especially over allocation of 10 percent royalty to oil producing communities.
Although, Saraki had boasted that the bill under his watch will be passed ?and assented to by the President, Post-Nigeria gathered that even though it is re-introduced for second reading, it might still follow the pattern that characterized the 7th Assembly.
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