JUST IN: Amid criticisms, Buhari signs PIB into law

Technocrat Media Nigeria

ABUJA – President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday signed the Petroleum Industry Bill 2021 into law.

In a statement titled, ‘President Buhari Signs Petroleum Industry Bill Into Law’.by his special adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Monday.

The spokesman to the president said the commander-in-chief signed the controversial bill into law while working from quarantine.

Mr. Adesina said, “Working from home in five days quarantine as required by the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 after returning from London on Friday, August 13, the President assented to the Bill Monday, August 16, in his determination to fulfill his constitutional duty.

“The ceremonial part of the new legislation will be done on Wednesday, after the days of mandatory isolation would have been fulfilled.

“The Petroleum Industry Act provides legal, governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the Nigerian petroleum industry, the development of host communities, and related matters.

“The Senate had passed the Bill on July 15, 2021, while the House of Representatives did same on July 16, thus ending a long wait since the early 2000s, and notching another high for the Buhari administration.”

The stakeholders in Southern Nigeria with the Pan-Niger Delta Forum and other groups in the South-South, South-West, and South-East had heavily criticised recently assented PIB describing its provisions as “unjust, satanic and provocative”.

The bill, which, has now been passed into law by the President, will regulate the oil sector. Crude oil is being extracted in eight states in the Niger Delta region which include: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo, and Rivers States while billions of naira have been spent in the search for oil in the north.

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