•Commences work on host communities’crisis
From Fred Itua, Abuja
Almost two decades after the Federal Government made its first attempt to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), the Senate will on the 16 and 17 of May, 2017, consider and pass the first phase of the bill, called Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB).
Chairman of the Senate committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Senator Tayo Alaosoadura, made the disclosure when Mr. Stuart Symington, United States Ambassador to Nigeria visited him and other members of the committee yesterday.
Alaosoadura also revealed that the host communities’ bill and the fiscal aspect of the legislation will be read for the first time today and passed before the end of the year.
He said: “We ought to have passed the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) today (yesterday), but because of the demise of Senator Adeleke, we decided to hold a special session in his honour. That was why we could not pass it. But we have already agreed that between May 16 and 17, the bill will be considered and passed. “We expect that before the end of May, we would have passed the bill and send to the House of Representatives for concurrence. We will be taking two other bills on the fiscal aspect of the oil industry and that of host communities.
“We want to ensure that we pass all the bills before the end of 2017. We want to tap from the knowledge of oil producing countries that have done what we are trying to do.”
On his part, the United States Ambassador, Mr. Symington, said his country is willing to offer professional advice to the committee and the country in their efforts to sanitise the oil and gas industry.