The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, has assured Nigerians that the Petroleum Industry Bill will soon be on its way to both the Senate and House of Representatives chambers. He also expects the bill to be signed before the end of May.
Lawan disclosed this on Tuesday, in a meeting with UK Minister for Africa, James Duddridge, and the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, in Abuja.
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What the Senate President is saying about the PIB
“The National Assembly is working tirelessly to ensure that we pass the PIB which is a very important piece of legislation for our country.
This time around, we have devised different means and ways of ensuring that it is not only passed by the parliament but it is assented to by the President.
Our belief is that we have long been working together with the executive arm of government to ensure that we don’t leave any gaps that will engender unnecessary controversy between us on the bill, and so far it has been paying off.
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The bill is on its final journey into the Senate and the House of Representatives chambers for consideration.
We are expecting that by the first week of May, we will be able to receive the report of our committee on the PIB. Our design and desire is that we are able to pass the bill before the end of May,” he said.
Lawan added that the PIB would change the economic fortune of Nigeria, as it would make a huge difference in earnings from Nigerian petroleum resources.
“But we also believe that this is one piece of legislation that will give significant or sufficient incentives to the oil companies, especially the International Oil Companies (IOCs) doing business in Nigeria,” he said.
What you should know about the PIB
Nairametrics reported earlier this month that the Nigerian government had added some changes to the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which included the reduction of hydrocarbon tax to 30% for converted leases, down from 42.5% in its original bill plan, in a bid to attract more investors to Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
Pls Senators, sign this bill for us this June 2021,stop playing politics with it pls