By Kassim Omomia
The House of Representatives has considered the 318- clause Petroleum Industry Bill

It amended section 240(2) of the Bill to increase the host community fund to 5% from the initial 2.5% in the draft Bill.

By the singular feat, the 9th House has taken the glory of passing the controversial bill that has been in the National assembly for almost two decades.

Presenting the synopsis of the report before the House finally dissolved into the ‘Committee of the Whole’ chaired by the deputy speaker, Idris Ahmed Wase, to consider the reports, Chairman of the PIB Ad-hoc committee, Tahir Monguno, noted that the names of the members of the 9th House will be written in Gold for passing the Bill which has suffered a chequered history in the National Assembly.

He said the Bill is important in the history of Nigeria because of oil which is the mainstay of the country’s economy.

Monguno explained by the passage of the bill, governance in the oil sector will be by international best practices.

According to him, the NNPC shall be unbundled and run like a limited liability company, ‘’the NNPC Ltd’’. He said the Bill also creates a commission that will regulate activities in the sector as well as provide funds for the Host communities.

‘’More money will come into the coffers of the government treasury through exploration. There shall be good fiscal regime to attract more investments and with the passage of the Bill, the House is about to make history since various passage of the Bill eluded past assemblies” the special committee chair added.

However, the 318 clauses were passed with an amendment to section 240 sub- 2, which increased the host community fund to 5% from 2.5.

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Section 240(2) reads: ‘’ each settlor, where applicable through the operator, shall make an annual contribution to the applicable host community development trust fund of an amount equal to 2.5% of its actual operating expenditure in the immediately preceding calendar year in respect of all petroleum operations affecting the host communities for which the applicable host community development trust was established’’

It is the percentage increase from 2.5 to 5 that was amended during consideration of the report in section 240(2).

By this development, the PIB has been passed and will be read the third time at the next legislative sitting.

Speaking after the consideration, the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, commended the ad-hoc committee for a job well done and assured that the Electoral Amendment Bill will be next to be considered before the annual recess.