Floods of Conflicting Presentations by Gas Stakeholders Delayed Passage of Petroleum Industry Bill-Law maker

Abiodun Obadayo I

Floods of conflicting presentations by gas stakeholders have been identified as the major cause of the delay in the passage of the much awaited Petroleum Industry Bill.

Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Gas, Mr Fred Agbedi, on Tuesday stated this at the Natural Gas Business Forum 2018, hosted by the Nigerian Gas Association in Lagos.

Agbedi however assured Nigerians that the lower house would pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in the next one month.

The chairman said that the decision to fast track the passage of the bill was borne out of the need to lay down solid foundation for enduring petroleum laws in the country.

The lawmaker said that the lower house was desirous of fashioning out robust laws that would strengthen the nation’s business environment, through collaboration with stakeholders in the gas sector.

In his contributions, Mr Justine Ezeala, who represented the Managing Director of Nigerian Gas Company, emphasised the need for the private and public sector collaboration to ensure the growth of the nation’s gas sector.

Ezeala said the NGC was well positioned to change the face of gas and also ensure that the sector delivered the right input to the sector.

Also speaking at the forum, Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Gas, Mr Ed Ubong, said the company had been in the vanguard of developing domestic gas sector and initiated vertical integrated programme leading to Shell’s divestment into the power sector.

This, he said, had enabled the company to develop 650 MW of power plant and linked up several industrial and manufacturing businesses into the country’s supply network.

The Managing Director of ND Western, Dr Layi Fatona, lamented on the fragmented policies of Federal Government, saying it had caused serious setback to the nation’s gas sector.

He advised that once a policy document was made and adopted, efforts should be made to implement it

According to him, the Nigerian Gas Master Plan, which was nurtured by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and designed to transform the sector, had been jettisoned by the current government in favour of a new policy direction called ‘7-Big Wins’ of the current government.