TO rapidly implement critical interventions needed to positively transform Nigeria's petroleum industry, stakeholders have urged the National Assembly to avoid unnecessary rigmarole in passing the newly approved Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). Such rigmarole and multiplication of efforts, they said, characterized the activities of the Sixth National Assembly.The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved the Bill, creating six new companies that will drive efforts towards transforming the oil and gas sector.The six new firms to be created by the passage of the PIB include the National Oil Company, Asset Management Corporation, National Frontier Exploration Services, National Gas Company and the Petroleum Host Communities Development Fund.Executive Director of Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Rev. David Ugolor, commended President Goodluck Jonathan and members of the Federal Executive Council for coming up with the new approved PIB, adding that the president has fulfilled the promise in hisJanuary broadcast to end strikes and protests by the organised Labour and Civil Society over fuel subsidy removal.According to him, 'we want the National Assembly to draw up a timetable for its speedy passage. The timetable should provide for Public Hearing and other avenues for Civil Society to make inputs into the Bill.'We are, particularly interested in ensuring that the new law makes the industry transparent and accountable to the people of Nigeria.He pointed out that they were particularly pleased that the Bill would ensure that the industry becomes more competitive to promote rapid development. There are also assurances that the new bill proposes revolutionary changes, which include the unbundling of the NNPC into several companies.'Of particular interest to us also is the fact that the interest of the host communities isbeingaddressedwith the Bill,' he said.The draft of the bill, recommends the creation of the Petroleum Host Communities Fund (PHCF), which will be saddled with the responsibilities of mobilising funds for mitigating environmental degradation as well as speeding up the development of communities, where oil is produced.Each upstream petroleum company shall remit, on a monthly basis, 10 per cent of its net profit (net profit defined as the adjusted profit minus the Nigerian Hydrocarbon Tax and minus the corporate income tax).Also speaking, Deputy Director,Leo Atakpu, urged the National Assembly to be on its guard to ensure that the Private oil companies and multi-national institutions operating in the sector do not move in with their money to derail the noble intensions of government and Nigerians on the PIB.He urged members of the NASS to learn lessons from the unseen 'banana peels' in theNational Assemblythathave been pullingdown parliamentarianswith corrupt tendencies as evident in the power probe, Capital Market probe and the latest being the fuel subsidy probe, among others.According to him, 'we want to see a Petroleum Industry Law that addresses all major issues buffeting the industry. A Law that would reverse the resource-curse phenomenon that has become the lots of Nigerian oil-bearing communities. We want a Law that would stand the test of time in line with international best instruments that will end corruption and the culture of impunity in the industry.'We want to see a Petroleum Law that would end the mindless thieving and appropriation of the nation's commonwealth by a few powerful individuals,' he said.He called on the international community to assist Nigeria to reform its oil industry so as to stem the rising poverty rate, which has assumed a frightening dimension.The President of South South Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (FOSSCCIMA), Billy Harry, had said that with the passage of the bill, the downstream sector of the petroleum industry would be free from government 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 allowing the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to operate commercially and playgreater 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.Minister of Petroleum, Deziani Alison-Madueke, said after the approval of the bill by FEC that the new bill took to consideration the new areas that were quite critical as they are the inspectorate, the regulatory agencies for the oil and gas sector to ensure that they are independent and that they can actually do the regulations.'We also looked at the unbundling of the NNPC, which have been very critical and created out of the old NNPC, a National Oil Company, which will be independent. It will be a registered company that will have shareholding and it will be ceded acreages and will also, as we implement the PIB, take over current infrastructure in the oil and gas sector - refineries, depots and certain down stream entities as well as production sharing contracts.'We created an Asset Management Corporation as a holding company, which will operate an asset management company that will be a competitive private sector-driven company. And it will hold what is today the joint venture hydrocarbon assets of the nation.'We expect of course that as time goes on that the company will operate essentially along the line of private sector with the right profit and loss centres to give the Federation the right return on investments in the hydro carbon sector,' she said.
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