President Muhammadu Buhari.VC.
The Senior Special Assistant to Nigeria’s President on National Assembly Matters, Ita Eg, has revealed why President Muhammadu Buhari withheld his assent from the Petroleum Industry Goverce Bill (PIGB).
In a statement on Wednesday, Eg said the President withheld his assent because of ”legal and constitutional reasons”.
The President’s legislative aide described as blackmail reports that Buhari rejected the bill because it whittled down his power as minister of petroleum resources.
“None of the reasons for withholding Assent by Mr. President adduced by the media is true”, Eg said.
As stated by Eg, the three major reasons are:
“a) That the provision of the Bill permitting the Petroleum Regulatory commission to retain as much as 10% of the revenue generated unduly increases the funds accruing to the Petroleum Regulatory commission to the detriment of the revenue available to the Federal, States, Federal capital Territory and Local governments in the country.
“b) Expanding the scope of Petroleum equalisation fund and some provisions in divergence from this administration’s policy and indeed conflicting provisions on independent petroleum equalisation fund.
“c) Some legislative drafting concerns which, if Assented to in the form presented will create ambiguity and conflict in interpretation.”
The President’s legislative aide, however, said there are “other issues therein contained” which he did not list.