After 50 years of of constant struggle to ensure that it sees the light of day, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is due for onward transmissionn to the National Assembly in two weeks time by the presidency.
“This bill has been 50 years in the making; it has taken a long time. It went through the entire gamut of the sixth session of the National Assembly and it did not get promulgated into law. In agreement with the seventh assembly, we took it back and completely reviewed it again. This is not a small bill, it is a critical bill for this country and for our oil and gas sector”, Petroleum Resources Minister, Deziani Allison-Madueke said yesterday.
She made this disclosure after President Goodluck Jonathan received the age long bill from the Special Task Force on the Review of Petroleum Industry Bill and the Petroleum Industry Bill Technical Committee Minister six months ago.
This is even as the new Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr Andrew Yakubu has promised to reposition the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in a way that it would not only provide better service in the country, but to be at par with other state owned oil companies.
Addressing State House correspondents after the meeting with President Jonathan, Alison-Madueke who assured that Nigerians will be proud of the new PIB said, “Nigerians should understand that we have been in a hurry for a long time to put this bill out but we will try to ensure that by the time it enters the National Assembly, we are very comfortable with it.