PIB to become law before May 29- FG

Posted by admin Headlines, Oil Politics Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

PRESIDIENT Goodluck Jonathan is to sign the much awaited Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, into law before the expiration of the present administration in May 29, 20011.

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, who disclosed this to a large gathering of stakeholders and foreign investors at the ongoing Offshore Technology Conference in Houston said all grey areas which had delayed the smooth passage of the bill had been sorted out between the Presidency and the legislators.

“We have been assured repeatedly by the legislators that before the end of this administration (by May 29, 2011) the PIB would in fact be passed into law,” she said

Alison-Madueke who spoke at the formal opening of the Nigerian pavilion which came under the auspices of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria, PETAN, said the industry was not under any threat as the protest by some International Oil Companies, IOCs, over some provisions in the bill, especially the fiscal regimes, does not pose any threat to the passage of the bill or the growth of the industry.

According to her, “we have worked very closely and robustly to ensure that every areas of the PIB that needed to be looked at and relooked at to ensure that when it is finally promulgated into law it is a bill that we can stand on for years to come as actually been done.

“And we are quite comfortable now with the reforms, the changes and the alignments that have taken place between us and our committees and of course the legislatures themselves. So, we expect that just as we have said, by the end of this administration, it will in fact have been passed into law.

On the issue of the IOCs interests threatening the passage of the bill, the Minister said she did not believe the passage was being threatened at all.

“I believe that the legislators just like us have taken it as a very serious exercise. This is an exercise that has taken over 50 years to come into place and as you know it amalgamates over 16 laws in this sector and it would change the face of this sector forever, not only in our country but in the entire sub-saharan Africa and beyond.wp_posts