SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently sign into law the Petroleum Industry Governance Bills (PIGB) when it gets to him.
Recall that the bill, which would now be harmonised with a similar one passed by the Senate last year, was considered and passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday at plenary.
Dogara, while saying the new legislation would be transmitted to the President as soon as it was harmonised explained that the parliament had to move on and pass its own version of the bill, following failure of the executive to present a draft bill to the National Assembly.
A statement by the Speaker’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Turaki Hassan, described the passage of the PIGB “as historic and landmark achievement by the 8th National Assembly after it was first introduced to the parliament by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2008.”
Dogara argued that with the passage of the long-awaited bill, the Petroleum Industry would “witness drastic improvement as it will attract investors and open up the sector as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) would be unbundled with the creation of other bodies.”
The speaker, however, noted that work would still continue on other aspects of the petroleum industry by the National Assembly in accordance with the 8th Assembly’s Legislative Agenda.
