Page 13 - DMEA Week 47 2020

DMEA POLICY DMEA

Nigerian legislator hints at slightly

longer timeline for PIB

NIGERIA THE speaker of the House of Representatives, difficult to tell members that we should go back
the lower house of Nigeria’s National Assembly, to the old arrangement that we had.”
The speaker of has hinted that the timeline for securing passage His words echoed sentiments expressed pre-
the House of of the country’s new oil and gas law may extend viously by Mike Sangster, the chairman of OPTS.
Representatives, the beyond the first quarter of 2021. Sangster asserted recently that the PIB would
lower house of Nigeria’s Femi Gbajabiamila, the leader of President make Nigeria a less competitive player on the
National Assembly, has Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress global oil market if it were passed in its present
hinted that the timeline (APC) faction, said last week that he expected form.
for securing passage the lower house to pass the Petroleum Industry Nigeria’s government submitted its draft
of the country’s new Bill (PIB) within six months. He also stressed, version of the PIB to both chambers of the
oil and gas law may though, that legislators would work to ensure National Assembly in August this year. At the
extend beyond the first that the final version of the bill was acceptable time, President Buhari said he hoped to be
quarter of 2021. to all parties. able to sign the bill into law before the end of
“First, the House is determined to pass the December. Subsequently, the House and the
bill within the next six months, or probably less, Senate both passed it in the first reading on
because the clock has already started running September 30 and in the second reading on
from the time it was presented,” he told a dele- October 20. They then suspended discussions
gation from the Oil Producers Trade Section of the PIB so that they could focus exclusively
(OPTS) of the Lagos State Chamber of Com- on next year’s federal budget.
merce and Industry. “Two, the House is deter- Since then, Timipre Sylva, the country’s Min-
mined to pass a PIB that is satisfactory to all. I ister of State for Petroleum Resources, has said
know it is difficult to satisfy everybody, but we that the government is now aiming to pass the
will try our best to satisfy everybody.” PIB before the end of March 2021. “I am not say-
Gbajabiamila did not say whether members ing categorically and conclusively that the PIB
of the lower chamber were contemplating any will be passed then. But what I am saying is that
specific changes to the PIB. But he did express from the pace of work we can see the National
some concerns about the current version of the Assembly working so far, everything being equal,
bill, saying: “[The] PIB as it is does not allow we are projecting that the PIB will be passed [at
Nigeria to compete favourably in the global mar- the] latest by the first quarter of 2021,” Sylva
ket. We are not competitive ... We need to look told the Premium Times newspaper earlier this
at [the details of the bill], but I think it will be month. ™

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