At last, President Muhammadu Buhari has presented to National Assembly, the petroleum industry bill (PIB) for consideration, according to a newspaper report.
The bill seeks to scrap the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
According to the reports, the proposed law will in turn the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited after all the assets and liabilities of the NNPC have been identified by the ministers of petroleum resources and finance.
The bill also seeks to establish the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission and the Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
According to the bill, “The Minister (of Petroleum) and the Minister of Finance shall determine the assets, interests and liabilities of NNPC to be transferred to NNPC Limited or its subsidiaries and upon the identification, the minister shall cause such assets, interests and liabilities to be transferred to NNPC Limited.
“Assets, interests and liabilities of NNPC not transferred to NNPC Limited or its subsidiary under subsection 1 of this section shall remain the assets, interests and liabilities of NNPC until they become extinguished or transferred to the government.
“NNPC shall cease to exist after its remaining assets, interests and liabilities other than its interests, assets, and liabilities transferred to NNPC Limited or its subsidiaries under subsection 1 of this section shall have been extinguished or transferred to the government.
“The minister shall be at the incorporation of NNPC Limited, consult with the Minister of Finance to determine the number and nominal value of the shares to be allotted which shall form the initial paid-up share capital of the NNPC Limited and the government shall subscribe and pay cash for the shares.
“Ownership of all shares in NNPC Limited shall be vested in the government at incorporation and held by the Ministry of Finance incorporated on behalf of the government.”
There have been many moves to restructure the oil sector but this has proved herculean for all administrations in the country.
Steps to reform the country’s oil sector began in 1999, but successive administrations failed to achieve the feat.
The last senate under its president. Senator Bukola Saraki had broken the bill into five parts and passed the petroleum industry governance bill (PIGB), but Buhari rejected it in 2018.
The president sent the bill back to the assembly on three grounds. He had said the PIGB would whittle down his powers as minister of petroleum resources, and that he did not see any “fiscal content” of the bill.
