The House of Representatives today passed the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) as the seventh Assembly ends tenure today.
After several years of back and forth, the bill, which has, as one of its central tenets, the requirement to indigenise the oil and gas industry, had on the last day of legislation of the 6th House of Representatives in 2011 been killed. However, consideration of its contents continued in the 7th Assembly. But on Tuesday, the Reps suspended the consideration of clause 209 of the PIB, due to some contentious issues, raising fears the PIB will again fail to be passed by the outgoing legislators. The bill first went out in 2009.
But on resumption of the consideration of the adhoc committee’s report, the outgoing members agreed to let the clauses pass.
According to Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha, who has taken over leadership of the house since Aminu Tambuwal resumed as Sokoto State governor, the House took painstaking steps in constituting the adhoc committee on PIB in order to reflect the diverse interests of the country.
“I want to believe that the House has done its best and represented our constituencies very well. Barring last minute unforeseen circumstances, today may be our last sitting day,” the deputy speaker said.
