The Federal Government has been advised to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in good time,given the threat the novel Coronavirus poses to the nation’s oil and gas sector.
Making the call via statement on Thursday in Abuja, a non-governmental organisation, Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), through its executive director, Faith Nwadishi,said that the passage of the PIB should be done without further delay as this had been overdue for 20 years.
Nwadishi said, with the challenges posed by the outbreak of COVID-19 in Nigeria and across the world, Nigeria’s economy would bounce back if the bill was passed immediately.
She called on the Executive to, as a matter of urgency, send the bill to the National Assembly for deliberation and passage,as the oil and gas sector remains in need of urgent reforms.
The non -passage of the bill,she said, has stalled the progress of the nation’s oil and gas sector.
Nwadishi said that since the Federal Government should establish an industrial base for the utilisation of the petroleum sector and create opportunities for increased production in the sector.
“There is the need to have a comprehensive licensing, fiscal and legal regime that will encourage the production and utilisation of the gas sector.”
She recommended that state governors take the reforms in the sector seriously.
“We support the domestication and indigenisation of the petroleum sector to create a domestic-supported industry,” she said.
