Nigeria’s Senate is set to start debating next week an amended Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). The PIB is a much-delayed and long-awaited plan to overhaul the vital energy sector which has been dogged by corruption and mismanagement.
President Muhammadu Buhari has made it a top priority on his list to get approval for the PIB, which has been in the works for a decade. The bill is meant to review everything from taxes to overhauling the country’s oil firm NNPC, environmental rules and revenue sharing, but its comprehensive nature has caused disputes among lawmakers.
Senate President Bukola Saraki said the House of Representatives and Senate would discuss the bill simultaneously from next week on to speed up its passage, according to a statement from his media office.
“The message from this is that the National Assembly, the Senate and House of Representatives, are working closely together,” he said in the statement. “For the first time we are both committed to work together as one to achieve results.”
Last month, state Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu told Reuters that NNPC was in talks with the Senate to speed up the process by splitting the PIB into three parts covering governance, taxation and business items such as oil block licensing
