Nigeria is to produce a new draft of a law to overhaul its oil and gas industry, following the controversy that dogged an earlier bill which has been with parliament since 2008, Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke said.
Alison-Madueke who said Thursday while inaugurating an eight-member task force set up to fast track the passage of the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill, the committee would review the various versions of the bill submitted to the parliament and produce a new one within the next 30 days, according to a statement from her office.
“As a matter of fact, you are all also aware that at the end of the 6th Assembly [parliament], there was more than one version going around. So, government expects that the committee will put up all the indices in place to redefine the bill, look at certain sections and include strategic aspects so that we can get it right,” she said.
The PIB, a piece of legislation aimed at far-reaching change in the Nigerian oil industry, including fiscal terms and the creation of a new national oil company, has been bogged down in the National Assembly since 2008 as lawmakers said there were different versions of the bill in circulation.
Continued delay and uncertainty over the passage of the PIB, which oil executives said could significantly increase the cost of operating in Nigeria in its present from, have put on hold billions of dollars of potential investment.
President Goodluck Jonathan, whose previous promise of a quick passage of the bill failed to materialize, has come under pressure to have it passed since a week strikes and protests earlier this month over the abolition of fuel subsidies.