Why PIB presentation is delayed ' Senate

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), Senator Emmanuel Paulker, has explained the delay in the re-presentation of the Petroleum Industry Bill to the National Assembly, saying it is to allow for further consultations.The committee had agreed to the request by the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, to discuss the PIB behind closed doors, as some of the issues related to it were considered sensitive.He told journalists in Abuja that the delay in the re-presentation of the bill did not mean that it was dead.Paulker noted that the setback was also caused by the delay in the constitution of the committees of the National Assembly.He said, How long were the committees constituted in the Senate' The committees just came into operation few weeks ago. Take the Upstream Committee, as an example; we just started our interactive sessions with the Petroleum Ministry, the international oil companies, and other relevant bodies under the committee.I think it is not being delayed unnecessarily because the PIB is very important. More so, the composition of the different committees has changed. So, they need some time to work on the PIB. Im aware that no sooner than later, the relevant committees will work with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to see that this bill is reintroduced.He argued that the bill was not controversial as widely perceived by Nigerians, since it was natural for those who were expected to pay more taxes under the new regime to fight against it.The PIB is an executive bill. Definitely, in any system, when you are introducing any bill, there must be consultations among the stakeholders. You just cant throw in a bill and keep it like that. There must be consultations and I think that would take place soonest, he added.Paulker was optimistic that the bill would sail through this time as most of the issues would have been taken care of during the consultations.The Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, had earlier explained that the bill needed to be re-presented because it had expired with the last Senate.He, however, ruled out the possibility of having fake copies of the bill in circulation, since the only authentic copy would be the one published in the National Assembly gazette.
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