Senate approves finalised Petroleum Industry Bill

By Uthman Salami

On Thursday, the Nigerian senate approved a reconciled version of a bill targeted at attracting billions in investment to oil sector, breaking the jinx of a two-decade calls for reforms.

The bill covers all areas of oil and gas sector right from downstream to upstream.

Before President Muhammedu Buhari signs it into law, the bill needs to pass through the hurdle of house approval.

Recall that both Chambers had passed the bill earlier this month, but there remained some grey areas that  required urgent harmonisation between lawmakers from the two chambers.

Although the order paper was not yet available in the house, both lawmaking chambers are expected to vote as soon as it arrives their respective chambers.

However, no further amendments are expected on the bill as legislators can only vote yes or no. Thus, approval by both Chambers would send the bill directly to Aso Rock where President Buhari will then append his signature before it becomes law.

The contentious parts of the bill include the 3% share of the annual operating expenditure of oil companies to host communities where petroleum products are produced.

The house had approved a 5% share, and the difference was a key sticking point in the reconciliation process.

Other key points of disagreement in the legislation centred on who is allowed to import fuel and what amount of money should be directed to developing “frontier” fields, which are mostly located in northern Nigeria.

Calls have resonated mostly in the southern parts of Nigerian as well as from key stakeholders such as MOMAN, DAPPMAN amongst different others against these contentious areas.