Ndubuisi Orji,  Abuja

How far can the Ninth Assembly go with the Petroleum Industry Bill?  That is one question agitating the minds of many Nigerians  as the National Assembly resumes from its two-month recess later this month. 

The PIB,  which was introduced in the sixth assembly, in 2007, is one of the unfinished businesses of the eight assembly,  whose tenure elapsed on June 9.

The bill is intended to create new legal framework for the oil and gas industry and unlock countless opportunities in the industry, as well as address governance,  administration,  fiscal and issues affecting the host communities in the oil and gas sector.

However,  as important as the PIB is to the oil industry,  which is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy,  the parliament has been unable to successfully push it through, after three successive assemblies.

At the inception of the eight assembly,  the National Assembly broke the bill into four for ease of passage.  They include the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, the Petroleum Industry Administration Bill,  the Petroleum Industry Fiscal Bill and the Petroleum Host Communities Bill.

Regardless, the eight assembly only succeeded in passing only the PIGB in December 2018 and sending same to President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent. However,  the President withheld assent to the bill,  citing several reasons.

In its determined effort to push through the bill, the House of Representatives, on May 23, re-passed the PIGB, after rescinding the contentious clauses in the bill, in line with concerns raised by President Buhari.  Nevertheless, the Senate could not concur before the eight assembly elapsed.

The politics of a bill 

However,  the question is why has it been impossible to push through the PIB, after over a decade?  The Deputy Leader,  House of Representatives,  Peter Akpatason,  says the passage of the bill  has been stalled by politics at different levels,  including the National Assembly.

Akpatason, who described the PIB as the most politicised bill in the National Assembly since the inception of the present democratic dispensation in 1999, told journalists recently that there is need to depoliticise the bill,  if it must see the light of the day.

“PIB has been the most politicised bill in this Assembly, all the way from the 7th Assembly. PIB has been the most politicised project, all the way from the Executive and even right here in the National Assembly because of a lot of contending interests all over the place.

“The multinationals formed its bloc and interest. In politics, we have all our various interests all through. The refining bloc is another, the marketers is another factor, transporters are another big factor.

“A lot of people are benefiting from a dysfunctional oil sector and these people are very powerful and highly influential; People that can manipulate anything possible in this country.

“That is why you see that even the draft that comes to the National Assembly, you see elements of political twisting and if you try to correct at the level of committees, these interests will come to play,” the lawmaker  stated.

Cost of non-passage of the PIB

Analysts say the country has lost trillions of naira in the last twelve years, as a result of the non-passage of the PIB.  This is especially in the area of revenue from existing ventures and fresh investments in the oil and gas sector.

According to pundits,  the absence of new legal framework for the oil and gas sector,  has made fresh investors unwilling to invest, as they are unsure of what will happen to their investments.

Former chairman,  House committee on Petroleum (Downstream),  Joseph Akinlaja,  told journalists, recently that the country has lost a lot, owing to the non -passage of the PIB.  He said this include lack of investment in gas among others.

“Looking at the cost implication, it has caused a lot. If you take Gas for instance,  investment into the gas sector, has been non-existent.  Because there is not enough clarity for investors to take a position in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.  Investments in explorations too, have gone down over the years.

“You don’t have new investments coming in.  And because of this delay in the passage of the PIB,  we have lost investments to other jurisdictions. You have people going to Angola and new discovery across the African and even West African countries have taken these investments. Billions of dollars that ought to have come into the economy, have gone elsewhere, because of the non-passage of the PIB,” he stated.

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The chairman, Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Bank Anthony Okoroafor said,  as at 2016, Nigeria had lost an estimated $10 billion (N1.7 trillion) fresh investments to the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

Okoroafor made the disclosure at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas in the United States in May 2016.

“We lost a very big opportunity by not passing the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) when oil price was above $100 per barrel. If we had passed the PIB when the price of oil was high, a lot of companies would have sealed more than $10 billion investment into the country,” the PTEAN chairman stated.

The Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), said the country has lost not less than $200 billion, as result of the non-passage of the PIB.

The Executive Secretary of NEITI,  Waziri Adio, while speaking at a symposium by the organization on the PIB,  recently,  noted that the absence  of new laws  in the petroleum sector   has led to lack of clarity and inadequate transparency mechanisms  in the industry,  resulting  to huge loses to the country.

The Way forward 

It is generally expected that the ninth assembly will build on the successes of the eight assembly as it concerns the PIB.  However,  pundits say for the PIB to be actualised,  there is need for all hands to be on deck.

Akpatason, who is also a former president of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) concurs.  He said there is need for the executive and legislative arms of government to sit together and come up with a new draft of the PIB, which will be passed and signed into law without much delay.

“I believe that the only way that we can have PIB that will scale through without much delay is for the executive and legislature to sit down together and get some experts, to work out the best draft that we can get. We must depoliticise the oil and gas bill for it to see the light of the day,” the deputy leader stated.

The chairman,  House Committee on Media and Public Affairs,  Benjamin Kalu says the ninth House of Representatives will seek to build a consensus on all the issues surrounding the PIB.  He noted that that way,  when the bill is eventually passed,  the President will not have any issue in assenting to it.

According to him, “Going forward, the 9th House of Representatives will seek to achieve this consensus by bringing together the various political and economic constituencies at the earliest stages to harmonise the different proposals under consideration before the legislation is brought to the floor. This way, we hope to overcome the differences that have thus far hindered all prior attempts at reform. One of the considerations is to constitute a committee charged with the responsibility of drafting the bill de novo.

“The process of raising the draft must clearly involve and incorporate the views, as much as possible, of all stakeholders including their validation of the final draft.  The all-inclusive and comprehensive draft should then be presented to the House for deliberation.  This way, all contentious issues would have been resolved before the bill commences the normal legislative journey.

“Despite the fate of the PIGB in the previous assembly, we must admit that we have made some progress. The issues of all stakeholders, both private sector, civil society and the Executive are clear at this point. All we need do is harmonize their concerns in redrafting the bill from the ground up. But this must be done expeditiously.”

However, pundits say time is running out for Nigeria as regards the reform of the oil and gas industry.  Consequently,  whatever that needs to be done to pass the PIB must be done quickly.

Akinlaja, who was a member of the eight House of Representatives,  says Nigeria can no longer delay in the enactment of new laws for the petroleum Industry.  He told journalists in Abuja recently,  that delaying the passage of the PIB will halt the country more, especially as other African countries are now producing oil.

Consequently, Akinlaja wants the executive and the legislature to collaborate to ensure that the PIB is passed and signed into law as quickly as possible.

“The world is not waiting for us. You know the time we started these reforms, 18 years ago from the committee to raising of executive bills; we probably  have six countries in Africa that have crude oil;  today we have more than 14. People are moving to Angola.  The work done by our consultants,  Ghana will just change Nigeria to Ghana and pass it.  Ghana has passed it. Capital is a coward.  It moves to places of less resistance.”

While stressing the need for the ninth assembly to give  the PIB priority  attention,  an energy expert,  Bode  Sowunmi said the country has a lot to benefit from a reformed oil and gas sector.

“We have a bill that will create transparency and restructure the industry.  We have a bill that seeks to create jobs .  When we talk about PIB,  Nigerians should think about jobs.  When we talk about PIB,  Nigerians should think about clean environment.  Nigeria should think about the expansion of the economy,  ability to earn more forex,” Sowumni told Daily Sun at the sidelines of a media round-table,  held in Lagos recently.

Truly,  the world is not waiting for Nigeria. But will ninth assembly and the executive arm of government rise to the challenge and make the PIB a reality under the present administration, for the overall benefit of the country? Only time will tell.

QUOTE: “Truly,  the world is not waiting for Nigeria. But will ninth assembly and the executive arm of government rise to the challenge and make the PIB a reality under the present administration, for the overall benefit of the country? Only time will tell.”