Pitfalls in the PIB [opinion]

By Sodiq Alabi

THE Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, has wandered its way through the National Assembly for two decades, like an ancient Sufi mystic in search of the Truth. It has faced several disappointments and metamorphoses on its way to becoming a law.

Initially a single Bill, it was broken down into different bills with one of it – The Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, PIGB, passed by lawmakers in 2017 only to fail to get the much-needed presidential assent. Now it is back to the National Assembly as one single Bill.

The Bill has long been presented as a credible solution to the myriad of problems facing the petroleum industry and the country, but its current version before the National Assembly is far from being a perfect Bill. If passed and signed into law as it is, it could represent a major missed opportunity for the country.

The drafters of previous versions of the PIB understood the need for harmonising the different regulatory structures that exist in the petroleum…

Source: Vanguard Newspaper