Buhari signs Petroleum Industry Bill into law

The Petroleum Industry Bill 2021 has been signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

President Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, announced this in a statement titled, “President Buhari Signs Petroleum Industry Bill Into Law.”

According to the presidential spokesman, his boss signed the contentious bill into law while under quarantine.

“After returning from London on Friday, August 13, and working from home in five days quarantine as mandated by the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, the President assented to the Bill Monday, August 16, in his commitment to do his constitutional duty,” Adesina stated.

“On Wednesday, once the days of mandatory isolation have been completed, the ceremonial element of the new legislation will be completed.

“The Petroleum Sector Act establishes a legal, governance, regulatory, and budgetary framework for the Nigerian petroleum industry, host community development, and other associated topics.

“On July 15, 2021, the Senate passed the Bill, and the House of Representatives followed suit on July 16, putting an end to a long wait that began in the early 2000s and achieving yet another high for the Buhari administration.”

Stakeholders in Southern Nigeria have slammed the recently passed PIB, with the Pan-Niger Delta Forum and other groups in the South-South, South-West, and South-East calling its provisions “unjust, devilish, and provocative.”

The bill, which the President has officially signed into law, will control the oil industry.

The PUNCH previously reported that Southern governors opposed the planned allotment of at least 30% of the earnings generated by the envisaged Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited for oil exploration in “border basins” as defined by Section 9 of the PIB last month in Lagos.

“The Forum rejects the suggested 3 percent and supports the 5 percent share of oil money to the host community as recommended by the House of Representatives,” the 17 governors declared in a communiqué issued by Governor of Ondo State, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, at the end of their July meeting in Lagos.

“The forum also opposes the proposed 30 percent profit-sharing for oil and gas exploration in the basins.

“The forum rejects the proposed Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited’s ownership structure. The Forum opposes vesting the firm in the Federal Ministry of Finance, arguing that it should be held in trust by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority because all levels of government have a stake in it.”

The Chad Basin, Gongola Basin, Sokoto Basin, Dahomey Basin, Bida Basin, and Benue Trough are among the frontier basins.

Crude oil is currently obtained from eight states in the Niger Delta region: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo, and Rivers.