• Task force to prosecute oil thieves
MINISTER of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, Thursday cautioned stakeholders, including lawmakers, against politicising the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
Speaking at the opening of a two-day public hearing on the proposed oil law, Alison-Maduake said her administration and that of President Goodluck Jonathan might not benefit from the new bill if eventually passed into law. According to her, full implementation of the new bill is expected to begin in five year's time.
"Don't politicise and personalise the PIB. Full and efficient implementation of any law as robust as the PIB takes a number of years. You cannot pass or promulgate a bill into law overnight and that is quite obvious.
"A complex bill that has many facets to it takes a number of years for full implementation in all its ramifications. By the time your National Oil Company will be fully up and running and working seamlessly; we are talking about four, five or six years down the road.
"By the time other institutions and entities that would be established as part of implementation of the bill are in full implementation and running as efficiently as we expect them to run, we are talking of six or seven years time down the road, President Jonathan and the Petroleum Minister, Allison-Madueke, will not be in office. So this is not a bill that should be personalised or politicised. It was put forward for the benefit of the nation, the economy and all Nigerians, bearing in mind that we expect, in the next few years, to find oil or hydro-carbon in other parts of the country," the minister said.
According to her, "it should be very clear that when we personalise or politicised bills of this sort, we have cheapened those bills and we have cheapened the effects and efficacy of such bills for the entire nation and the entire economy."
On the perceived enormous powers bestowed on the Petroleum Minister in the new bill, she said the PIB actually reduced the powers of the minister as compared to the powers of the current minister.
"There is no law that confers on the minister of Petroleum in Nigeria as many powers as the current Petroleum Act. That is the Act that confers on Minister all the powers. The PIB has reduced those powers because we worked very hard to reduce them in a number of ways."
Meanwhile, disturbed by the huge economic loss due to activities of oil thieves in the Niger Delta, the National Economic Council (NEC) yesterday approved the establishment of a legal task force to prosecute proven cases of oil theft, using the relevant laws, especially the Miscellaneous Offences Act.
The proposed committee, which is to be headed by the Attorney -General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) would also have representatives from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), armed forces, civil defence, police, SSS and other related agencies.
The task force is to be in force for one year with effect from July 2013. Members are to be announced by the AGF on Monday, July 22, 2013.
The decision followed the adoption of the report of the Presidential Committee on Oil Theft headed by the Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, who briefed the Council and recommended the setting up of the task force as means of addressing the problem.
"As a matter of fact, we took as best practice the laws of those places like the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Norway and yet, we did not confer upon the Minister of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria the extent of powers that those countries have conferred on their ministers.
Declaring the public hearing open, President of the Senate, David Mark, said the new oil law is imperative in boosting investment in the sector. He, however, warned international oil companies against undue threats to the country.
Foreign oil companies were alleged to have threatened to pull out their investments should the new law not be favourable to them.
Mark said: "Oil companies too should not take undue advantage of Nigeria. What I do not want is when people begin to threaten that if you do not do this, we will park out of Nigeria. That is not the correct thing. We are conscious of the fact that there is frustration in the oil industry".
According to him, the PIB is a win win situation for everyone and as such, all should work towards its success.
The Guardian