By Michael Peter, The Sight News
Abuja: Africa Center for Leadership Strategy and Development, Center LSD has called on the National Assembly to expedite the passage of the remaining three components of the Petroleum Industry Bill.
Recall that the current National Assembly had split the initial PIB into four bills to enable a speedy passage of the Bill.
The four bills include; the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, the Upstream Petroleum License and Lease Administration Bill, the Downstream Oil and Gas Administration Bill and the Petroleum Fiscal and Petroleum Revenue Management Bill.
Both Houses of the National Assembly have so far passed the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill awaiting assent by the President.
If assented by the President, the Bill will pave way for the restructuring of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and Department of Petroleum Resources; create new agencies and remove overlapping functions among the regulatory, policy and commercial Institutions.
At a press conference today in Abuja, the Programmes Director of the Center, Monday Osasah insisted that the passage of the three other components of the Bill will enable the Oil industry operate optimally and attract investment.
Osasah while commending the national assembly for passing the Petroleum Industry Governance component of the Bill, maintained that the full passage of the Bill is also critical in addressing the myriad of problems including the incessant fuel scarcity bedeviling the oil industry.
He urged all stakeholders and citizens of Nigeria to join the advocacy and mount pressure on the lawmakers to pass the totality of the Bill.
In his remark, the Program Coordinator, Open Society Initiative for West Africa, Joseph Amenaghawon urged the president to as quickly as possible assent to the Governance Bill so that there can be some certainty regarding how the Oil and Gas sector of the country will be managed.
