Buhari seeks Reps approval of N148.1bn road reimbursement to five States, PIB

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi, Musa Adamu and Christiana Ekpa

President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday asked the House of Representatives to consider and pass into law, the Petroleum Industrial Bill (2020).
Buhari made the request in a letter to the House titled: ‘Transmission of the Petroleum Industry Bill for consideration and passage into law’ which was read by the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila at the commencement of plenary after annual recess of the legislature.
The letter read in parts: “Pursuant to Section 58 of Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, I formally request the consideration and passage into law by the House of Representatives the Petroleum Industry Bill 2020.
“In particular, the House of Representatives may wish to note that this bill combines in a single tone, aspects of significant reforms to the laws governing the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, that were previously set out in two (2) distinct draft legislation, namely the Petroleum Industry Bill 2020 and the Petroleum Industry Fiscal Bill, 2020.
“I trust that the House of Representatives will in their usual expeditious manner favourably consider the passage of this bill into law”.
In another letter, President Buhari requested the approval of the House for the reimbursement of N148.141 billion to Bayelsa, Cross River, Ondo, Osun and Rivers State Governments for Federal roads projects executed by the States.
According to the letter, out of N148.141 billion, Bayelsa is to be reimbursed N38.404 billion; Cross River, N18.394 billion; Ondo, N 7.822 billion; Osun, N4.567 billion and Rivers, N78.953 billion.
The letter stated that: “The Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the meeting of June 3, 2020 approved the reimbursement of N148,141,969,161.24 through the issuance of promissory notes to the Bayelsa, Cross River, Ondo, Osun and Rivers state governments for Federal Road Projects executed by the States.
“The approval by FEC was subsequent to the recommendation of an inter Ministerial Committee which reviewed the requests for the reimbursement made by the state governments for the projects. The Committee reviewed the documents submitted and carried out physical inspection and verification of the projects in the respective states before making its recommendation to FEC.
“In the view of the foregoing, I wish to request the House to kindly approve through its resolution, the request of reimbursement of the total sum of N148,141,969,161.24, the issuance of promissory notes to the five aforementioned states governments for the federal roads projects.
“The Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning shall provide any information that may be required by National Assembly in its consideration of this request”.