Why PIB is delayed, by expert

By Tony Akowe, Abuja

The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has not been passed into law because of high turnover of federal legislators, an oil and gas expert Israel Aye, has stated.

He also asked the National Assembly to work closely with the executives in the drafting of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to ensure its smooth passage and signing into law.

Aye further advised the government to encourage more private sector participation in refining of petroleum products in the country while illegal refineries uncovered in the Niger Delta region should be converted to modular refineries rather than being destroyed.

The oil and gas expert spoke at an online training to members of the National Assembly Press Corp,

The training, which was facilitated by Facility for Oil Sector Transformation (FOSTER), in conjunction with the National Assembly Press Corps, is aimed at equipping the media to engage lawmakers as well as educate Nigerians more on the need to embrace the expected reforms, and what stakeholders in the industry should do.

He said there was the need for the leadership of the National Assembly to work hand in hand with the Executive in the drafting of the Petroleum Industry Bill to ensure its quick passage by the lawmakers.

He said even though the governance aspect of the bill was passed by the 8th Assembly but was not signed into law by the President, the 9th Assembly should allow the bill to come to them as an executive bill so as to hasten its signing when it is passed into law.

He blamed the delay in passage of the Petroleum industry Bill (PIB) on the high rate of turnover of federal lawmakers every four years, leaving room for fresh hands to start the process all over.

“On each of the journeys (of the Bill), there were different stories, and it was mainly political reason in the last effort. We understand that the executive team is working on the bill now”, he said, adding that hopes are high that it gets to the parliament early enough for consideration.

Aye said journalists covering the National Assembly must be prepared to push for the quick passage of the bill by engaging the lawmakers in constant dialogue.

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Aye, who spoke on the urgent case for reforms in the petroleum sector, said with the recent fluctuating price of crude oil in the international market, Nigerians are seriously under threat, but expressed confidence that crude oil prices will soon rebound as the crash in world oil price is occasioned by the world economic lockdown.

He expressed confidence that the world will witness another round of high oil pries when the economy rebound, adding that at the moment, the nation’s revenue was seriously under threat.

Aye said the nation must be prepared to pay a high price for the development of the oil industry, adding that events in the Niger Delta such as oil bunkering and vandalisation as a result of criminal activities.

Speaking on the much talked about subsidy removal, Aye said money to be realised from subsidy removal should be used to build infrastructure and create development opportunities in agriculture and small scale industry.

He stressed that the scope of reforms in the industry must focus on governance of the petroleum sector, the operational institutions in the sector, the upstream, midstream and downstream, adding that agitations for deregulation of the downstream and subsidy removal appeared sustained because subsidy which is expected to serve the interest of the masses, “is not so, because it is usually misdirected”.

He said that private investors should be encouraged to refine products locally, saying “If you are able to consistently point out the benefits of something, people are bound to key in. I will recommend incentives, to make it attractive and compelling for investors”.

Aye cited what the government did with the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and the successes inherent as practical example.

He however said that rather than destroy illegal refineries when discovered, they should rather be converted to modular refineries and upgraded where possible.