Nigerian Senate on Tuesday announced the composition of the conference committee on the PIB, following its passage last week by both chambers of the National Assembly.
The members of the conference committee as announced by the President of the Senate Ahmad Lawan, includes the Senate Leader Abdullahi Yahaya, who will serve as the chairman; Senators Mohammed Sabo representing North West; Albert Bassey Akpan – South South; Danjuma Goje – North East; Opeyemi Bamidele – South West; Stella Oduah – South East and Gabriel Suswam – North Central.
The Senate President charged members of the conference committee to meet with their counterparts in the House of Representatives to enable the National Assembly come up with a final document on the PIB for transmission to the Executive arm of government.
He said: “The conference committee will meet with our counterparts in the House. The House will also announce the composition of the conference committee, and we hope that they will swing into action immediately, so that we are able to have the final document of the PIB which will be transmitted for presidential assent.
“So, we expect our delegation here under the leadership of the Senate Leader to engage with our colleagues in the House of Representatives.”
Breaking the jinx
The federal lawmakers broke the PIB jinx after clause by clause consideration of the report of the Bill on an Act to Provide Legal, Governance, Regulatory and Fiscal Framework for the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, the Development of Host Communities and for Related Matters, 2021 by the Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources -Downstream, Upstream and Gas.
The only area of disagreement between the two chambers in the 319 clause report submitted by their various ad-hoc committees on the bill, is that while the Senate approved 3% operating costs for host communities, the House retained the 5% recommended by the joint committee.
Emmanuel Ukoh
