The upper chamber passed the PIB, 2021 after the clause by clause consideration of the report of its joint committee on Petroleum (Upstream, Downstream and Gas) on PIB. Lawmakers from the South-South geopolitical zone however protested against the three per cent approved for the host communities and called for five per cent.
The Senate had before then held a closed session with the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari.
The Senate also approved that 30 per cent of profits accruing from oil and gas operations by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation would be set aside for exploration of oil in the frontier basin.
The proposed law stipulated that all exploration of frontier basins would fall under the purview of the Upstream Regulatory Commission.
It also clarified that the three per cent from the oil firm’s profits would be reserved for the development of host communities.
However, before the Senate approved the clauses, the plenary was thrown into a rowdy session following the disagreements over the right percentage of oil revenue that should accrue to the host community.
This was because the report of the Senate Joint Committee on Petroleum which processed the bill had proposed five per cent for host communities.
However, when the Senate carried out the clause by clause consideration of the bill, it was reduced to three per cent.
The development led to a stalemate as senators from the Niger Delta region vehemently opposed the decision.
For instance, the Senator representing Delta South, Senator James Manager, proposed an amendment to retain the provision of five per cent in the report but he was defeated.
Also, another attempt by the Senator representing Rivers State, George Sekibo, to call for a division was overruled by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, who hit the gavel to re-confirm the three per cent host community provision.
The development led to a serious tension.
The Senate leadership swiftly moved to pacify the southern senators who were insisting on division to resolve the impasse.
The Leader of the Senate, Yahaya Abdullahi, said the Senate would be ‘heading for a state of Armageddon’ if it allowed that division to happen.
Lawan also supported the Senate Leader and urged his colleagues to exhibit patriotism and Sekibo later agreed to withdraw his motion.
Similarly, the House of Representatives, on Thursday, passed the controversial bill, following the consideration and adoption of the report on the controversial legislation.
Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, hailed the lawmakers for the record passage of the controversial bill, describing it as significant in the history of the parliament.
The Majority Whip and Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on PIB, Mohammed Monguno, had laid the report at the plenary on Wednesday.
He prayed the House to consider the report on the ‘Bill for an Act to Provide Legal, Governance, Regulatory and Fiscal Framework for the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, the Development of Host Communities; and for Related Matters, 2021 (HB. 1061) and Approve the Recommendations Therein’.
The report, as passed, provided five per cent for the development of the host communities and the establishment of a Host Communities Development Fund, which Monguno put at $895m annually.
The chairman noted that the committee recommended five per cent in order not to scare away investors from the nation’s oil and gas sector, in view of the availability of oil in several countries at the moment. [PUNCH]
