BREAKING: Senate Passes Petroleum Industry Bill

By Dipo Olowookere

Reports just reaching our newsroom indicate that after about 10 years of foot-dragging, the Senate has finally passed the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill fondly called the PIG Bill.

The bill was passed by the upper chamber of the National Assembly on Thursday after Senator Donald Alasoadura presented to his colleagues the report on the bill packaged by the Senate Joint Committee on Gas, Petroleum (downstream) and Petroleum (upstream).,

The PIG Bill seeks to reform the country’s oil and gas industry, especially in the area of transparency so as to make it more business and profit oriented, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in particular.

Commenting on the passage of the bill, the Senate President, Mr Bukola Saraki, said, “I congratulate the 8th Senate with the passage of this landmark bill which has not been passed for many years.”

If the House of Representatives carry out a similar action, the bill would be transmitted to the President for assent.

Many stakeholders had longed for this day when the PIG Bill would be passed so as to kick-off the much-awaited reforms in the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian economy.