Non-passage of PIB has hampered investment — LCCI

Major players in the country’s energy sector have expressed their disappointment over the inability of the immediate past 7th National Assembly to pass the Petroleum Industry bill, PIB, which had been in the works for more than 12 years now. Also the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has said the non passage of the bill has hampered investment by its members.
They however urged the new constituted National Assembly to ensure the speedy passage of the bill to ensure transparency and confidence in the sector.
The bill despite being passed by the 7th House of Representative without a concurrence by the Senate before they were dissolved last month, had been stucked in parliament for more than five years, with oil executives saying billions of dollars in new investments especially in deepwater projects have been withheld.

 
Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), energy industry auditing firm, warned that the country’s oil industry needed urgent reform, it however urged the President Muhammadu Buhari, and parliament to pass into law the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by the end of August “to demonstrate their patriotism and political will to promote transparency and accountability in the oil and gas sector.”
In his reaction the Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, Mr Obafemi Olawore, said that he was disappointed that the PIB did not eventually see the light of the day 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.”

 
Olawore explained that the passage of the bill by the House of Representatives was an incomplete exercise, adding that the Senate also needed to pass it before it is harmonised and sent to the President for assent.
“For us, it is a disappointment that the bill was not passed by the two Chambers before the end of the seventh assembly. Instead of the Senate to give the PIB priority, they passed 46 bills in 10 minutes,” he said.

 
According to the Secretary General of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, Mr. Isaac Abarere, it is a surprise that the House of Reps members could pass the bill on the last day of its official duty.
“We need to know the details before reacting. If the bill was passed with the clauses which harmonise the power of the Minister of Petroleum, then it can be said to be a good thing for stakeholders. It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives had to delay the bill until the end of 48 months before passing the bill,” he added.
Also, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Sahara Energy, Mr. Kola Adesina, said that the passage of the bill by the House of Representatives cannot be relied upon as the clauses in the bills have not been clearly spelt out.
He said that it is too early to celebrate since no one knows which of the clause had been altered, adding that it is impossible to agree that the bill has been passed since the Senate could not pass it.

 
Also, the Secretary General, the United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy, UNDEDSS, Mr. Tony Uranta, said there was no justification for the 7th Assembly not to have passed the PIB that would have put an end to the recurring crisis in the nation’s oil and gas sector.
“The PIB was introduced to the National Assembly since 2007. It is disheartening that the PIB which sought to establish a legal, fiscal and regulatory framework for the petroleum industry was not given priority passage by the 7th Assembly.”
“To sanitise the oil and gas sector and make it equitable and workable, curbing corruption by giving teeth to existing laws in the petroleum industry, the PIB should no longer be delayed,” Uranta said.

 
He however urged the Senate to remove the clause in the bill, interpreting host communities to mean the entire nation.
“There is no way the entire nation will be host community in the oil and gas sector. Every region has its endowments even in the mining sector. Host communities must be interpreted to be those producing the oil and gas in the country,” he said.
He also urged the 8th Assembly to make passage of the PIB one of its first priorities.

 
Also, Mr. Ikem Ohia, a director of Ascon Oil, said that the passage of the bill by only the House of Representatives was nothing to rejoice about, adding that the two chambers needed to have passed it before going through the process of assent to become a law.

 
For Mr. Dauda Garuba of the Natural Resource Governance Institute, though a lot of hope was placed on the passage of the PIB, Nigeria can no longer continue to move in a circle. According to him, the last minute passage of the Bill by the House of Representatives alone was very disappointing.
He said, “We all know that one of the chambers of the National Assembly will not get the PIB passed into law except both chambers approve of it. That is where the critical issue comes up; as what was the whole effort about by the House of Representatives if eventually the Senate was not going to pass it and was going to be harmonised to become a law?”

 
Garuba however said that despite the failure of the 7th National Assembly to pass the bill, the new government of President Muhammadu Buhari could still reform the oil and gas sector without the law.
Explaining the effect of the non-passage of the bill on the economy, the Director General of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, Mr. Muda Yusuf, said the development has hampered investments by the members of LCCI that operate in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry.
According to him, before the oil price decline, Oil Producers Trade Section, OPTS of the LCCI, said that investments in over 50 per cent of their deep water fields were uneconomical due to the delay in the passage of the PIB.
“It is clear now that with the current oil price decline, it is really difficult for OPTS members to make fresh investments needed to break even until the uncertainty over PIB is removed,” Yusuf said.