Apparently persuaded that Nigeria's greatness and potential to meet vision 20-20-20 target depends largely on the passage of one of the oldest, but strategic, Bills in the National Assembly, President Goodluck Jonathan may soon halt his campaign train.
This is to enable him to inaugurate a presidential panel to tackle the ancient challenge of passing the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) that will wrest Nigeria's sovereignty from the powerful International Oil Companies (IOCs) nurtured by endemic corruption in the oil and gas industry.
President Jonathan had, in a recent business trip to Turkey and some counties, assured some inquisitive stakeholders that the Bill would be passed before the end of the current session of the National Assembly.
Similarly, the same promise came to the front burner at a campaign rally in Lagos, where the Petroleum Minister reiterated the presidential refrain on the imminent passage of the Bill, which most Petroleum Ministers since 2000 have been artfully sabotaging.
THERE are fresh concerns that the Bill may go the way of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Bill, one of the most traumatised Bills since 1999 when Nigeria returned to constitutional democracy.
The FoI Bill was passed in March 2007 but the then President Olusegun Obasanjo and the National Assembly leaders allegedly conned the nation about its transmission to the State House and so was declared missing until the Obasanjo left office without signing it into law.
His withdrawal of assent was, however, vetoed by the National Assembly.
But this development on PIB broke at the weekend, as there were indications that the combined effects of the lobby of the IOCs, the Petroleum Resources Minister and the beneficiaries of the shady deals in the oil sector, specifically the NNPC, could still distract President Jonathan from pursuing the passage of the Bill the Senate and the House had passed to their Committees on Petroleum Resources.
Source: Forces Against Petroleum Industry Bill (http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=40655:forces-against-petroleum-industry-bill&catid=1:national&Itemid=559)