National Assembly to abandon PIB

The current National Assembly may
abandon the Petroleum Industry
Bill owing to the slow progress of
work on it.
The PUNCH observed on
Wednesday that it was becoming
clear that the bill might be
abandoned as senators and
members of the House of
Representatives have only 16 days
to the end of the 7th National
Assembly.
Findings showed that while the
Senate is behind by not reporting
the bill out of the committee stage,
the House which started
considering its own report last
week, was being slowed down by
disagreements among lawmakers
over the many clauses in the
proposed law.
For example, at the resumed
consideration of the report by the
House on Wednesday, members
hotly disagreed over the funds oil
majors were expected to share
with the Federal Government for
exploration activities in the River
Basins.
Many clauses had to be deferred in
the course of consideration as
members also raised constitutional
questions on some of the
provisions.
Faced with the ensuing disputes
among members, presiding Deputy
Speaker Emeka Ihedioha referred
all contentious issues back to the
Ad hoc Committee on PIB to be re-
taken.
Ihedioha had observed that
members were arguing more on
issues as they affected their
interests, adding, “Whatever
interest you have cannot be more
than the national interest that this
parliament and this House in
particular has.”
He later adjourned further
consideration till Tuesday next
week.
There were doubts on Wednesday
whether the House would conclude
work on the 348- clause document
before the valedictory session of
the House fixed for May 27.
Investigations showed that of
concern was the fact that the
Senate was behind and was not
likely to make any serious progress
on the bill before May 29.
A National Assembly official, who
spoke with The PUNCH on the
progress of the bill said, “The
efforts of the House, though
commendable, will end up as being
futile.
“We all know that a bill becomes
law only when passed by the two
chambers of the National Assembly
and is assented to by the President.
“So, even if the House does pass
the bill before May 29, what
purpose would it have served
without the concurrence of the
Senate?
“The only option is if the Senate
will simply adopt the report of the
House. I doubt if this is likely,
considering the controversial
nature of the PIB.”
Asked to comment on what would
happen to the bill should the
Senate fail to pass it, the Deputy
House Leader, Leo Ogor, replied
that it would be on the record that
the House passed it.
“We operate a bicamera
legislature. We in the House are
passing the PIB.’’
When contacted, the Senate
Leader, Victor Ndoma – Egba, said
deliberation on the bill was
deliberately suspended by the
Senate because there was no
adequate time to consider the
report.
He said, “The feelers we are getting
is that the incoming administration
will want to study the bill and this
makes sense because it is a far-
reaching piece of legislation. At this
point in time, it must be of interest
to the incoming administration.
“The public has a misconception
that the bill has been with us for
four years which is not true. This
bill was re-introduced to the 7th
National Assembly in late 2013.
“Because it has several aspects like
the fiscal (financial), technical, the
legal, and the gas component, it is a
very complicated bill.
“Since we needed to bring in
several committees. The logistics of
having more than one committee
to deal with a bill is challenging. In
this case we have to bring in six
committees.
“Finding a common opening in
terms of schedule is usually a
problem and because it is very
technical, we need to get the
technical input of virtually every
stakeholder in the sector.
“Inherently, it is not a bill that
could be treated in a hurry, it is not
possible. Having six committees
working together on a bill is not
only a big logistic problem but also,
quite challenging and a big
nightmare.
“For this piece of major legislation,
it is important that we thread
slowly, it’s going to be a major
policy plan for the incoming
administration, so if we are around
the corner, why are we in a hurry?”
Fresh indications had emerged on
Tuesday about how the non-
release of the N520m appropriated
for the National Assembly to work
on the PIB caused its non-passage
by the Senate.
Investigations by one of our
correspondents revealed that the
comprehensive and the executive
summary of the report had been
jointly produced by the six Senate
committees coordinated by the
Chairman of the Committee on
Petroleum Resources (Upstream),
Senator Emmanuel Paulker.
Findings further showed that the
report had not been presented
because none of the 43 members of
the six committees had appended
his signature on it.
The development stalled its
presentation on the floor of the
Senate for a clause by clause
consideration by members.
It was learnt that the Senate
leadership made N40m available to
the joint committees, whose
members were expected to carry
out public hearings among
stakeholders across the country.
The committees were also to hire
foreign and local consultants to
assist in the task.
A member of the joint committee,
told The PUNCH on condition of
anonymity that the amount
released by the Senate leadership
was grossly inadequate to carry out
the assignment.
He said, “The committee involved
foreign consultants who are
experts in various fields in the oil
and gas industry. The consultants
did their work but the committee is
still owing them huge sums of
money at the moment.”
He alleged that, “rather than the
Federal Ministry of Petroleum
Resources releasing the N520m
appropriated for the exercise, some
officials diverted the money to
produce billboards and posters,
claiming that they were creating
awareness for a bill that has not
been passed.”
The committee member added,
“The situation created serious
problems for the six committees
made up of 43 members who were
expected to carry out the necessary
legislative activities.
“In fact, members of the joint
committee had refused to sign the
document because they did not
receive adequate sitting
allowances.
“The leadership of the senate are in
a fix on what to do now since the
House of Representatives had
started deliberation on its own
version of the bill.”
When contacted, the
spokesperson for the Federal
Ministry of Petroleum Resources,
Kingsley Agha, said, “I’m busy and I
can’t take your call.”