By Chimezie Godfrey
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy (CISLAC) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), especially now that his administration had barely one year to go.
It made this call Friday in Abuja during a Media Dialogue on the need for Presidential assent to the Bill.
CISLAC Executive Director, Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, who was represented by Mr. Kolawole Banwo said that the Bill, which was waiting presidential assent was the culmination of two decades of work by various stakeholders in the Nigerian petroleum Industry, especially the Executive and Legislative branches of the Nigerian government.
He reminded Buhari that the PIGB was among many of the promises he made during his electioneering campaign, and that Nigerians were eagerly waiting for his assent.
Speaking on the economic impact of the PIGB, he said “About 85% of revenue comes from this sector and perhaps about 95% of our foreign exchange and that is what we use to fund our budget and every other aspect that are critical to human development and human capacity, education, and health, among others.”
“Will he consider the national interest and citizens as bigger than individual benefit, and therefore prove everybody wrong and sign it,” he asked.
Rafsanjani said that the Bill embodied the principles of transparency, accountability, the avoidance of conflicts of interest and undue political interference in the regulation of the Nigerian petroleum industry and the commercial operations of state owned entities.
“The Bill is a “Win/ Win” for all stakeholders and ought to receive Presidential Assent,” he concluded.
A Partner with Energy and Natural Resources Streamsowers, Chiagozie Hilary Nwokonkwo, said that something was endemically wrong with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) because all efforts to investigate it during the 7th and the 8th Assemblies failed.
Dr. Sam Amadi, the Former Chairman of NERC said that he did not think that the PIGB diminished Presidential power, but rather encouraged the President to assent to the Bill as the objective aligned with the economic policies of this administration.
