Page 4 - DMEA Week 30

DMEA COMMENTARY DMEA

Waiting for the law

Nigeria’s government claims to be on the verge of submitting the Petroleum

Industry Bill to the National Assembly

NIGERIA NIGERIA’S government is reportedly making of the law that would not have to be revised or
a push to bring its new oil law to the National replaced any time soon. “It tells you that when
WHAT: Assembly for a vote. we are able to pass the bill, it won’t change for a
After a wait of more Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petro- long time because it has taken us about 20 years
than 10 years, Abuja leum, said in mid-July that the latest version of to get to where we are. It’s now ready to go to the
is reportedly ready to the long-delayed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) National Assembly.”
seek approval for its would be submitted to legislators within two Additionally, Sylva noted that Abuja had
Petroleum Industry Bill. weeks. The federal government is eager to begin worked hard to consider the interests of all par-
the process of seeking approval for the draft law, ties involved in the oil and gas sector. “There
WHY: he said. Doing so will help eliminate roadblocks are lots of parts to it – community, government,
The slow pace of to investment, he added. industry, everybody’s interest has to be accom-
negotiations on the new modated,” he said. We have been able to take a lot
oil law has discouraged The government’s defence of interests on board. Not everybody will be on
investors. Sylva also pushed back against critics of the the same page. There’s no way government and
PIB. He did not divulge specific details of the private sector will be on the same page 100%, but
WHAT NEXT: proposed legislation but asserted that the gov- what we have tried to do is to narrow the gap as
If the legislation takes ernment had drawn up a well-formulated and much as possible.”
effect, Nigeria’s next comprehensive bill that would protect Nige-
offshore licensing round ria’s interests while also facilitating foreign Long wait
may draw more interest. investment. As of press time, it was not clear whether the
“It has not been watered down,” he said dur- government had been able to bring the PIB to
ing an interview with Arise News. “I don’t know the National Assembly yet. Even so, officials in
who has seen the bill. It’s still in draft. It has gone Abuja have not said anything about a delay – and
through several modifications. That’s the whole they have reiterated that they hope to pass the
idea. You can’t change the laws very easily.” new oil law by the end of this year.
He also defended the government’s slow Nigerian legislators and government officials
progress on drawing up the PIB, saying that the have been talking about enacting new legislation
delays had allowed Abuja to craft a strong version to replace the Petroleum Act of 2004 for a long

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 30 30•July•2020