Nigerian Senate To Pass First Phase Of Pib In Three Weeks

SAN FRANCISCO, April 26, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Senate has given the 16th and 17th of May, 2017 as date when it will consider and pass the first phase of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, identified as the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, PIGB.

This was disclosed on Wednesday by the Chairman of the Senate committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Senator Tayo Alaosoadura, when the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Stuart Symington, visited him and other members of the committee.

He also revealed that the host communities' bill and the fiscal aspect of the legislation will be read for the first time today – Thursday, and passed before the end of the year.

“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,” Alaosoadura said.

Symington, on his part, expressed the willingness of the United States, US, to offer professional advice to the committee and the country as regards efforts being made to sanitise the nation’s oil and gas industry.