The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB)

  • Senate passes seven bills rejected by Buhari

    The Senate on Wednesday passed seven bills vetoed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    This is coming as the upper chamber initiated the override of the president on the Fourth Alteration Bill No.28.

    The Senate said that the bills were reconsidered and passed in line with legislative procedures.

    Buhari, in his letter of rejection, raised concerns about the constitutionality of the bills if passed into law.

    The President requested the Senate in the letters to consider the issues raised for their rejection and reconsider the bills.

    The bills included Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Bill, National Research and Innovation Council Bill, and Stamp Duties Act (Amendment) Bill.

    Others were National Agricultural Seed Council Bill, Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (Amendment) Bill and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill.

    Senate President, Bukola Saraki, directed the Senate secretariat to take note of observations and corrections made by senators and ensure that they were reflected in the bills before transmitting them to the president for assent.

    On Tuesday, the Senate included in its Order Paper, two bills earmarked for override.

    The two bills were not considered at the end of plenary.

    Read Also: Senate Presidency: Shettima backs Lawan

    No explanation was given by the Senate leader, Ahmad Lawan about why they were not considered.

    The two affected bills slated for override, but not considered are Fourth Alteration Bill No. 28, and the Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Amendment Bill.

    The upper chamber relisted the Fourth Alteration Bill No. 28, and the Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Amendment Bill yesterday.

    Both passed second reading.

    The second reading of the bills is the second stage of the override process.

    If the bills pass the third reading with the required by 2/3 majority (73 senators) and go secure the concurrence of the House of Representatives, the two bills will become a law.

    The Forth Alteration No. 28 Bill is a constitution amendment, which seeks to provide for the time within which the President or Governor shall lay the Appropriation Bill before the National or State Assembly.

    The Bill also seeks to encourage early presentation and passage of Appropriation Bills.

    President Buhari declined assent to the Bill on the grounds that it didn’t take cognisance of the provisions of Section 58(4) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

    On the other hand, Industrial Development Amendment Bill, if passed, will enable companies to expand their operations in pioneer industry or product to apply for a new pioneer status.

    President Buhari declined assent to the bill on the grounds that ongoing inter-ministerial consultations would be affected if the Bill was signed into law.

  • PIGB: NASS to mount pressure for presidential assent — Saraki

    President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki  says  the National Assembly will continue to mount  necessary  pressure to get  presidential assent on the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB).

    Saraki spoke at a dinner as part of activities at the ongoing 24th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja on Monday.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the dinner which ended late in the night, was attended by trade experts, industrialists, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operators and financial experts among other dignitaries.

    According to Saraki, the resolve by the legislature to mount pressure to ensure the bill gets presidential assent has become necessary, given its importance to development of the oil and gas sector in Nigeria.

    News Agency of Nigeria reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had withheld assent on the PIGB following its passage by the National Assembly.

    The President had also communicated its decline of assent to the PIGB 2018, citing constitutional and legal reasons in the bill.

    The Senate president said that it was unfortunate that the bill had not been assented to, adding “we took it as a responsibility to drive that bill to a level it has never been in a decade’’.

    “That bill, a lot of people when we started said we cannot do it, but we demonstrated we have the political will and the commitment to do it.

    “We passed the governance bill and it went to the executive.

    “What I expected considering the kind of work that was done was for us both arms to seat down, because the issues that were raised are not issues that are not surmountable.

    “Unfortunately, after so many months, the bill has come back with query that can easily be trashed out in a day session.

    Read Also: Akpabio to Saraki: Senate leadership must change

    “Those in the petroleum sector will agree with me that they have never seen the engagement we saw in the governance bill.

    “Secondly, we had the fiscal bill and we have taken it to the point that has never been archived, but I believe a lot of the operators will want to ask what will happen to the fiscal bill if the governance bill was not assented to.

    “Our intension is to go back to the executive and seat down with them in the interest of Nigeria.

    “This is a very good bill as most operators and the technical people in the sector commended it.’’

    He said the observation made on the bill was not enough reasons to stop its assent because of the huge positive impact it would make in investments in the sector.

    “Because as you know, there is no serious investment going in the oil and gas sector because people are not sure of what to expect.’’

    On cost of governance, Saraki said it was huge but added that there were some wastages that could be reduced.

    The Senate president said the fight against corruption must be transparent, and credible, adding that effort should also be made to prevent it.

    “For example, the main area where we produce our major revenue is mainly in the oil and gas sector.

    “But when you look at corruption cases, I am not sure you will find many of the cases in that sector, the fight is so selective.

    “But if it is transparent, you should start from where you are producing your large source of revenue.

    “Because if you can tackle corruption in the sector, there will be less leakage down the line.

    “For example today, we are back to spending close to 3.6 billion dollars petroleum subsidy, so apart from the national assembly, which anti-corruption agency is looking at that?

    “The point I am making is that there should be a transparent process and approach in fighting corruption.

    “If we can make the petroleum sector most efficient which accounts for large revenue, government will be more efficient.

  • Atiku faults Buhari on PIGB

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s rejection of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB).

    In a statement on Wednesday, which he personally signed, the former Vice President said it was rather unfortunate that President Muhammadu Buhari rejected the bill as passed by the National Assembly.

    Describing the President’s action as a monumental mistake, Atiku said the reason given by the President for rejecting the bill betrayed the fact that the current administration is out of touch with global best practices.

    The presidential aspirant of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said the President’s claim that the bill would whittle down his powers was unfortunate.

    The statement said, “A leader must be secure in himself before he can secure his or her people. A President is not powerful because he holds the Presidency. Neither is he only powerful because laws confer powers on him.
    “In truth, a secure leader brings power and influence to the office he occupies instead of taking power from that office. He also gives laws the force of power by obeying and implementing them.

    “The Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) will be a great catalyst for Nigeria’s oil and gas sector and has the capacity of stabilising our host communities, boosting our reserves and creating the enabling environment that attracts the type of investment that will make Nigeria a world leader in the petroleum industry.

    Read Also: Buhari’s remark on rule of law

    “In recent months, Nigeria became the world headquarters for extreme poverty, having overtaken India as the nation with the most people living under $2 a day (81 million people). If we are to change the situation and bring our people out of poverty, we must support legislation such as the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill.

    “As the late great President Ronald Reagan once said, the greatest leader “gets the people to do the greatest things”. The Petroleum Industry Governance Bill will help Nigeria to do great things and I urge President Buhari to put aside his insecurities over the loss of his power and let the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill be”.

  • NEITI applauds Senate, calls for speedy House concurrence to PIGB

    NEITI applauds Senate, calls for speedy House concurrence to PIGB

    The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has applauded the Senate for the passage of Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) and called for speedy House concurrence to the bill.

    A statement issued in Abuja on Friday by Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, Director, Communications for NEITI said the decision of the Senate to consider the bill as priority resulted in its passage.

    He described the passage of the bill as legendary and historic, given the challenges the bill had passed through in its legislative journey for almost two decades.

    Orji said that NEITI as an agency set up to enthrone transparency and accountability in the management of extractive industries in Nigeria, “has legitimate interest in the PIGB in view of its strategic importance to the realisation of its mandate.”

    He said that NEITI, therefore, called on the House of Representatives to find similar courage to give the bill accelerated consideration on its merit in overriding public interest.

    The NEITI director of communications said that the passage of the bill came more than seventeen years after the process commenced in April 2000.

    “We note that the objective of a petroleum sector law remains to develop a dynamic governance framework that will re-position the Petroleum Industry.

    “Also make the sector to fully embrace competition, openness, accountability, professionalism as well as better profit returns on investments.

    “NEITI also notes that the public outcry that greeted the failure of the last National Assembly to pass this important Bill.

    “Perhaps this informed the current Senate’s resolve to revive legislative interest on the bill resulting in the milestone achievement recorded at the moment.

    “We are delighted that to avoid the controversies that killed the last PIB, the current Senate, carefully assembled experts who carefully broke the Bill into various segments beginning with the governance aspect of the proposed law.

    “The PIG bill now passed by the Senate is a product of this creative initiative”, he said.

    He said current stagnation of investment opportunities in the Industry and negative consequences to the economy due to absence of the new law “made the agency to publish a researched Policy Brief titled “Urgency of a new Law for the Petroleum Sector” in 2016.

    He said that NEITI shared the publication with members of the National Assembly; which alerted the nation that Nigeria had so far lost over $200 billion as a result of absence of the Law.

    “And these lost revenues were as a result of investments withheld or diverted by investors to other (more predictable) jurisdictions’’.

    Orji said that the hedging by investors stemmed from the expectation that the old rules would no longer apply, but not knowing when the new ones would materialise.

    He said that NEITI’s 2013 audit of the sector revealed that a cumulative $10.4billion and N378.7billion were lost as a result of under-remittances, inefficiencies, theft or absence of a clear governance framework for the sector.

    Orji said the cost to the nation in 2013 alone was N1.74 trillion.

    He said that it was now hoped that with the prospects of a new Law coming into place, the huge revenue losses to the nation as a result of governance lapses would be eliminated.

    According to him, NEITI looks forward to carefully studying the contents of the PIGB as passed by the Senate and called on all stakeholders to commend Senate for what had been achieved so far.

    Orji also commended the media, civil society organisations, industry, stakeholders and experts for their valued contributions to the process.

    He said that NEITI would hold a multi-stakeholders dialogue on the provisions of the bill as passed by the Senate to set the stage for informed stakeholders’ engagements “on how this Bill will positively influence the on-going reforms in the oil and gas industry.”