Former Senate President Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan has revealed that the ninth national assembly preferred having a flawed law rather than allowing the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) stall.
In a special interview marking the fifth anniversary of the law, Lawan revealed that previous attempts under former Presidents Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan collapsed due to isolated approaches and intense friction between the executive and the legislature.
“When two elephants fight, the grass suffers. In a democracy, when the executive and legislature fight unnecessarily, the people suffer unduly,” Lawan noted, emphasizing that past solo efforts by both arms of government repeatedly sent the bill into limbo.
He noted that Nigeria lost an estimated $15 billion annually and up to $230 billion cumulatively over the years due to investor skepticism and the absence of a reliable legal framework.
To bypass past hurdles, Lawan explained that the 9th National Assembly adopted a radical paradigm shift by partnering directly with the executive arm right from the outset.
Alongside then-Speaker of the House of Representatives now Chief of Staff, Rt.Hon.Femi Gbajabiamila, Lawan engaged the executive early to craft a harmonized framework.
The strategy involved close collaboration with key government and industry figures, including the then-Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari; the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF); and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva.
Despite the preliminary alignment, Lawan disclosed that the National Assembly still meticulously reviewed the bill upon arrival, amending clauses perceived to have been overlooked to ensure a balanced outcome for both the country and international investors.
Addressing the driver behind the final push, Lawan maintained that pragmatism ultimately trumped perfection.
“Our determination was that no matter how imperfect the PIB, or subsequently the PIA, might be, having a law was better than allowing the reform to fail again,” he stated.
