Sylva, Amaechi, Omo-Agege, others to gather for PIB confab

Stakeholders in the Niger-Delta region will gather on March 10 at a one-day virtual colloquium to proffer solutions to some of the issues responsible for the delay of the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill which is before the Senate.

The bill had not been passed since 2008 when it was first introduced in the Sixth Assembly.

Bigwigs such as Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva; Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of State, Labour and Productivity, Festus Keyamo; and Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, will grace the event co-organised by online news platform, The News Guru; and broadcast station, Africa Independent Television.

Also amongst the line-up of speakers at the event with the theme, ‘PIB: finally getting it right and breaking the 20-year hiatus’, are ex-Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan; ex-Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dakuku Peterside; Ex-Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim; Chairman, TNG Advisory Board, Chidi Amuta; as well as AIT founder, Raymond Dokpesi.

The discussants including ex-governor of Edo State, Oserhiemen Osunbor, will analyse the legal framework around the PIB and how it will affect host oil-producing communities with an aim to make the PIB a mutually beneficial law for all stakeholders in the country.

Commenting on the confab, TNG publisher, Mideno Bayagbon, said, “The focus of the summit is to end the seemingly intractable problem of enacting a new, mutually beneficial petroleum industry law which will transform the industry and put in place firm roadmaps for the federal government, industry operators and the communities and states of the Niger Delta.”

The virtual event, which will hold between 11am and 2pm on March 10, will be streamed on AIT networks, Zoom and Youtube.