Reports have it that the National Assembly does not have time to consider the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) stressing that the bill is not a priority of the current administration.
Ali Ndume, who is the Senate leader disclosed this in an interview with Punch. He went further to say that the senate is pre-occupied looking at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Act to determine the financial inflow and outflow of the corporation.
“We are not talking about the PIB for now. The PIB got stuck somehow in the 7th Senate and this is a new government that definitely comes up with an idea of how it intends to run the oil and gas industry.
“This 8th National Assembly is determined to pass the PIB but coming to say when is a question very difficult to answer because right now, we have seven versions of the PIB. Maybe the final one will be presented by the 8th National Assembly,” he stated.
The Borno State senator stated that until it seeks “the community aspect, joint venture contracts and the partnership issues”, it cannot pass the PIB bill.
Also, Ogun Central Senatorial District senator, Lanre Tejuosho, suported the stand of the senate leader. He stated Nigerians should care less on passage of bills but to insist on effective oversight act invities by lawmakers.
“We keep on talking about sponsoring bills but looking back at all the Assemblies that we have had, this is the eight one, I realised that so many bills have been passed and I ask what the problem is. For me the problem is not introducing bills but the oversight function of the senate. There are so many wrongs today that could have been put right if the senators had done their oversight function properly.
“So I believe, rather than passing new bills, we should concentrate on how to perfect the oversight functions. If a bill should be uppermost on my mind today, it is a bill that will ensure that any agency or parastatal that will prescribe punishment for agencies that fail in their responsibilities of implementing their budget or projects.
“In fact, any of the senators that is in charge of oversight of an agency and who did not point it out at the right time, that senator must lose his ranking right. Such a senator that fails in his oversight function should be penalised” he was quoted.