Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has today stated that the Senate would be introducing a Host Community legislation to complement the Governance and Institutional Framework Bill of the revised PIB that passed Second Reading in the Senate.
The bill is aimed at addressing issues relating to community participation, security, and the ecological debt incurred by host communities from oil extraction.
“For many years now the PIB has been stalled at different stages for one reason or the other,” Saraki stated, “At this point, the Senate is ready and willing to do everything that it takes to get Nigeria’s economy out of this recession — and the efficient and effective management of our oil resources is a key component of this.
“Now that the legislation to provide a governance and institutional framework for the petroleum industry has passed Second Reading, it is time to re-introduce the host community development legislation to address the legitimate agitations of the people of the Niger Delta,” he said.
Meanwhile, work on the passage of the two key bills will be nearing completion stage before the end of the year.