By Christiana Ekpa
A member of the House Representatives, representing Ohaji/Egbema/Oguta/Oru-West Federal Constituency in Imo State Kingsley Chima, has disclosed that the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill is the greatest achievement of the 9th National Assembly.
The Imo Lawmaker who is also a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on PIB, equally disclosed that the bill, when sign into law will eventually provide an organised governance policy in the petroleum sector.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja at the weekend, Chima noted that the PIB would create effective production, proper management, transparency and good governance in the sector.
“The greatest achievement of the 9th House of the National Assembly is the passage of the PIB. If you recall, you would agree with me that this bill has been in the cooler for over a decade and what it means is that there may have been issues of disagreements and grey areas; areas that are not actually agreeable by all the stakeholders.
“It got to a point where too many people actually invested so much, either regional, political, religious or even economic interests, in trying to adduce their reason for not actually passing the bill. But Thursday, the bill was given the greatest ovation anybody could think of in the National Assembly.
“An overwhelming 99.9 per cent of the members on the floor – if not 100 per cent – agreed with the content of the bill as actually recommended by the PIB committee. That is to say the 9th Assembly under the leadership of Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila has actually given flesh and life to the corporate governance of our oil sector.”
He said, PIB would make the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation accountable to Nigerians as well as make more money available to host communities.
Chima said, “Section 53 made mention of having an NNPC that would be accountable to the people of Nigeria. That will guarantee the immediate registration, upon assenting to this bill by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, having what we will call NNPC Ltd.
“It will now be vested with the responsibility of making sure that the profit accruable from explorations in this country will be moved to the Federation Account as quickly as possible.
“Section 240 is talking about the host communities and these host communities today are singing with joy because we have given impetus and powers and provided an enabling environment for you to participate in your own resources.”
