President Muhammadu Buhari has finally sent the petroleum
industry bill (PIB) to the national assembly for consideration and passage, The
PUNCH is reporting.
The bill seeks to scrap the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency
(PPPRA), the newspaper said.
The proposed law will in turn establish the Nigerian
National Petroleum Company Limited after all the assets and liabilities of the
NNPC have been identified by the ministers of petroleum resources and finance.
The bill also seeks to establish the Nigerian Upstream
Regulatory Commission and the Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
“The Minister (of
Petroleum) and the Minister of Finance shall determine the assets, interests
and liabilities of NNPC to be transferred to NNPC Limited or its subsidiaries
and upon the identification, the minister shall cause such assets, interests
and liabilities to be transferred to NNPC Limited,” the newspaper quoted parts
of the bill.
“Assets, interests and liabilities of NNPC not transferred
to NNPC Limited or its subsidiary under subsection 1 of this section shall
remain the assets, interests and liabilities of NNPC until they become
extinguished or transferred to the government.
“NNPC shall cease to exist after its remaining assets,
interests and liabilities other than its interests, assets, and liabilities
transferred to NNPC Limited or its subsidiaries under subsection 1 of this
section shall have been extinguished or transferred to the government.
“The minister shall be at the incorporation of NNPC Limited,
consult with the Minister of Finance to determine the number and nominal value
of the shares to be allotted which shall form the initial paid-up share capital
of the NNPC Limited and the government shall subscribe and pay cash for the
shares.
“Ownership of all shares in NNPC Limited shall be vested in
the government at incorporation and held by the Ministry of Finance incorporated
on behalf of the government.”
Steps to reform the country’s oil sector began in 1999, but
successive administrations failed to achieve the feat.
Different sessions of the national assembly had difficulty
passing the bill for different reasons.
In an attempt to pass the bill, the eighth national assembly
under the leadership of Bukola Saraki, former senate president, broke it into
five parts and passed the petroleum industry governance bill (PIGB), but Buhari
rejected it in 2018.
The president sent the bill back to the federal lawmakers on
three grounds.
Buhari said the PIGB would whittle down his powers as
minister of petroleum resources, and that he did not see any “fiscal content”
of the bill.
He also said all the ministers he consulted on the bill,
asked him not to assent it.
In January, Senate President Ahmad Lawan said the national
assembly was working towards passing the PIB before the end of the year.
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