Nigeria’s Senate has said it will nearly complete work by year end on two major areas of long-delayed legislation to tackle problems in managing the nation’s oil wealth.
Senate President Bukola Saraki made the announcement today.
The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has been stuck in parliament for a decade.
It aims to tackle everything from an overhaul of state oil company NNPC to taxes on upstream projects in a sector riddled with corruption.
On Wednesday, the Senate, parliament’s upper house, gave initial approval in the second reading to a draft plan to overhaul the state oil industry, a procedural move that allows the bill to move forward.
Saraki said the Senate should next work out rules for communities hosting oil firms — one of the most contentious aspects as militants and villages in the impoverished Niger Delta demand a greater share of the oil revenues it generates and a cleanup of oil spills.
“Work on the passage of the two key bills will be nearing completion stage before the end of the year,” Saraki said.
The next step is for parliamentary committees to provide a report within four weeks after which the Senate will go clause by clause through the final version, lawmakers said.