Business
Why PIB was not passed- Senator Obenbe
FELIX OLOYEDE |
Senator Domingo Obende who represented Edo North Senatorial District of Edo State, has blamed the failure of the senate ad hoc committee assigned to look into the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to submit its report for the reason the 7th senate could not pass the bill.
He told Hallmark that there was no way the senate could have passed the PIB when the ad hoc committee tasked to consider the bill did not turn in its report to the senate as a whole for deliberations.
According to him, members of the ad hoc committee did not give any cogent reason for their failure to submit their report on the PIB.
The 7th House of Representatives had on the last day of its sitting passed the PIB, with only 47 members out of the 360 in attendance.
But the failure of the Senate to pass the bill rendered the House of Representatives passage of the PIB an exercise in futility, despite passing 47 bills within 10 minutes from its valedictory sitting on June 4, 2015.
It would be recalled that the bill has been in the National Assembly since 2008 and failed to get the nods of the legislators on three different occasions.
Human right lawyer, Mr. Fred Agbaje in a telephone interview told Hallmark that the National Assembly did not pass the PIB, because it was not directly beneficial to them.
He claimed that if it had been a bill that they would personally gain from, they would have hurriedly passed it.
He added that the non-passage of the bill was a clear demonstration of how our politicians could be.
The Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Mr Obafemi Olawore, said he was disappointed that the PIB did not eventually see the light of the light during the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
“They did not meet my expectation in this regard. I am disappointed! I thought they would pass it, but they did not. What do we do?
“It means all the reforms that we have been expecting in the oil industry have been postponed,” he lamented.
In his reaction,Mr. Kola Adesina Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, CEO of Sahara Energy said that the passage of the bill by the House Assembly cannot be relied upon as the clause in the bills have not clearly spelt out.
He said that it is too early to celebrate since no one knows which of the clause had been altered. According to him, it is impossible to agree that the bill has been passed since the Senate could not pass it.
According to Mr. Isaac Abarere, the Secretary General of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), it is surprise that the House of Rep member could pass the bill when it is closing its official duty.
“We need to know the details before reacting. If the bill is passed with the clauses which harmonises the power of the Minister of Petroleum then it can be said to be a good thing for stakeholders. It is unfortunate that the national assembly had to delay the bill until the end of 48 months before passing the bill,” he said..
