From Romanus Ugwu, Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja and Tony Osauzo, Benin
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) 2021 into law as passed by the National Assembly.
It said that the assent has ended the long jinx which has seen the PIB delayed since the early 2000s.
The party in a statement signed by the National Secretary Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, John Akpanudoedehe, hailed the leadership of the National Assembly, public and private stakeholders in the petroleum industry.
“The new Petroleum Industry Act may not be a perfect document. No law anywhere in the world is a finished product. It is a good way to start, after decades of groping in the dark in the oil industry. Mr. President has broken the jinx on many fronts, this is a clear demonstration of the will of a leader, determined to do the right thing. We salute the President’s forthrightness and his courage to lead Nigeria aright. The party also hails the leadership of the National Assembly, federal lawmakers, public and private stakeholders in the petroleum industry as well as petroleum host communities for their cooperation which ensured the PIB’s successful legislative passage and subsequent presidential assent,” APC said.
The ruling party expressed happiness over the economic impact the Act would have saying: “The Nigerian economy is the ultimate beneficiary as the new Petroleum Industry Act will overhaul the oil and gas industry by providing legal, governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the Nigerian petroleum industry, the development of host communities as well as offer new fiscal incentives to investors. Before now, Nigeria’s oil and gas industry lost as much as $15 billion in investments annually due to the delayed passage of the PIB. But that is about to change with the Petroleum Industry Act.
However, the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has said the signing has send a wrong signal to the oil extraction-impacted communities and other Nigerians who expected a listening ear at Aso Rock.
Its Director, Nnimmo Bassey, in a statement in reaction to the signing of the the PIB into law said: “I had believed and expected that he would listen to the voices of Nigerians who have suffered over six decades of unmitigated ecological assault and socio-economic marginalization. There are some key defects in the bill that needed to be addressed before being signed into law. One is that it makes nonsense of Nigeria’s climate change Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). It also locks in gas flaring which is a major emitter of greenhouse gases by extending a regime of insignificant fines. In addition, at a time when the world is shifting from fossil fuels, 30 per cent of the profit of the NNPC would already be sunk into searching for oil field dusters or bottomless speculative search for crude oil in so-called frontier basins. HOMEF believes that the PIB will not halt the move by oil companies to shift offshore and leave their mess in already traumatised communities as oil companies are making these moves in order to escape accountability and because they will pay minuscule amounts as royalties in deep waters.”
Bassey said the host community funds as set up by the PIB would have overbearing influence of oil companies.
“The bill is very colonial system in its construction, giving oil companies virtually absolute powers to ride roughshod over the interest of Niger Delta communities in terms of who sets up the boards and who decides what projects get to be executed. Tied to this is the criminalisation of communities over oil facilities incidents as communities cannot be held accountable for incidents done by individuals.”
He said holding communities accountable for inability of corporations to secure their pipelines and wellhead is comparable to ascribing banditry to a whole community simply because a bandit carried out nefarious actions in their territory.
However, former chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Mr Sam Amadi, has said President Buhari signed Bill into law because it met his strategic considerations for the oil and gas sector.
Amadi, in a Facebook post, explained that the bill was a much improved outcome for the sector.
He explained that the major winners were the oil majors and the government, while the seeming losers in the short term and in terms of bargaining may be the communities.
“President Buhari signs the PIB. It is now Petroleum Industry Law or Act. While facilitating a retreat for the board of the NIEITI, I assured that the president will sign it in spite of the political pushback by South South leaders on account of the failure to upgrade the Host Community Development Trust Fund from three to five percent. The President will sign because the bill meets his own strategic considerations for the sector.