REPS FOOT DRAG ON PIB PASSAGE FIVE MONTHS AFTER PUBLIC HEARING

The House of Representatives has yet to pass the much awaited Petroleum Industry Bill for which a public hearing has been held since January.

The House has proposed to pass the PIB in March, a target that was later shifted to April 2021.

The lawmakers had debated the general principles and passed the bill for second reading on November 24, 2021, while a public hearing was organised for it on January 27, 2021 – two months after.

When contacted, Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu said the PIB has not been abandoned.

“The PIB, among other things, are still being looked into; it has not been abandoned; it is still a work in progress,” Kalu said.

Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, while declaring the hearing open, had said, “More importantly, we intend to pass this bill by April. That is a commitment we have made. Some may call it a tall order but we will do it, and we will do it with every sense of responsibility without compromising the thoroughness of the work that will be done.”

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Earlier on November 25, 2020, Chief Whip of the House and Chairman of the Committee on PIB, Mohammed Monguno, in his opening speech at the inaugural meeting of the panel, had said the bill would be passed by March.

Kalu had in response to an enquiry by our correspondent on the priority list of the chamber, said special attention would be paid to the ongoing constitution review, the Electoral Act amendment and the Petroleum Industry Bill.

He said, “The legislative agenda of the House remains the roadmap of the 9th House of Representatives and what it prioritises appears on our scale of preference. The constitutional review, the PIB, the Electoral Act, etc., will remain on the front burner.”

Meanwhile, the House had recently organised a summit on national security and public hearings across the six geopolitical zones on the review of the 1999 Constitution. Plenary had been adjourned as a result.

Plenary will resume on Tuesday.

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