SOUTH South Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (FOSSCCIMA), has called for the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), to pave way for more investments in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.Speaking during a courtesy visit to the Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the President of FOSSCCIMA, Mr Billy Harry, with the passage of the bill, the downstream sector of the petroleum industry would be freed from government regulations ' with less interference.According to him, the passage of the bill would also open up the oil and gas industry for more investors to play in the sector thereby allow the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to operate commercially and play greater role in the economy.Harry added that the idea of the PIB was prompted by the need to make the oil and gas industry more transparent and to ensure that the country derives maximum benefits from its natural resources.He stated: 'We wish to note that such a bill that is geared towards improving indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry, after many years that it was initiated, has not been passed into law. It is pertinent that all stakeholders work in concert to the PIB signed into law to guarantee Nigeria's sovereignty in controlling the economy'.Harry stressed that for the Local Content Policy, which has already been passed into law by the Federal Government to succeed, government should partner with key stakeholders including civil society to monitor its implementation.He added: 'We are very excited and glad as Organized Private Sector (OPS) that the local content bill is approved and signed into law. As the chairman of oil and gas trade group of Nigeria Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, (NACCIMA), we welcome it and really applaud the Federal Government to have signed the bill into law.Harry implored DPR to immediately take proactive steps to ensure that besides its statutory roles, every other entity involved in the implementation of Nigerian Content under the Nigerian Content Act and the Petroleum Act cap 350 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria should partner with key stakeholders including civil society to monitor the implementation of Nigerian Content in the industry.'FOSSCCIMA would like to point out that currently, more than 70 per cent of the jobs in the oil and gas sector are still carried out by foreigners, an action, which we considers to be contrary to the intent and purposes of the Nigerian Content Development Act.'The question therefore arises as to what is responsible for this state of affairs despite the lofty ambitions of the Nigerian Content Development Act.'In the view of FOSSCCIMA, for the Nigerian Content Act to achieve its set goals, there is need for all direct and contingent Government Agencies, the organized private sector and civil society to work together towards a common goal of vigorous implementation and enforcement of the Act. In this respect, FOSSCCIMA strongly is of the view that the Department of Petroleum Resources is the pre-eminent institution to both instigate and champion the vigorous implementation and enforcement of the Act as being canvassed. This is so because the DPR has pre-eminence in the monitoring and enforcement of regulations relating to every aspect of the industry and it is a well-known fact that effective local content implementation and enforcement begins at the point of approval of projects'.The Director of DPR, Mr Osten Olorunsola said the PIB would be passed to the President in the next two weeks.Olorunsola said that although there are good policies, the investment environment is not good enough.'We have lost many opportunities in the past by not having the a law like this. We would have gone far, but we are happy that we are taking a bold step. In the next one to two years, the Nigerian indigenous participation would have grown higher', he said, adding that the government will soon begin to open up its marginal oil field acreages for prospective investors by the end of this month.The new oil leases, according to the Olorunsola, would specifically be open for bids by indigenous oil and gas firms, while firms with foreign interests are exempted.
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