Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Ibe Kachikwu yesterday stated that the NNPC should not be blamed for all the problems in the petroleum industry, declaring, instead that the cause of the industry’s woes had been the lack of political will.
“The reform of the petroleum industry is key and it is an area where we are going to put a lot of focus. Transparency is key. Restructuring is key. Sometimes people do not realise that the problem has not been NNPC, it is a problem of political will to go forward and implement the outcome of researches and reports that had been done.
“Fortunately for us this time around, that is what the President has brought to the table. He has strong political will to see this through,” Kachikwu stated, at the ongoing 55th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association in Abuja.
Kachikwu who chaired a special session at the conference called for extensive engagements with all stakeholders to iron out all grey areas in the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, which has been pending before the National Assembly in the last seven years.
According to him, the bill is an essential legislation which must be approached with all the seriousness and thoroughness it deserves.
He said, “PIB is a serious affair, it is an essential piece of legislation but as we all know a lot of engagement is required to address all the issues because the oil and gas environment has changed. There are issues of cost, with oil going down to $40 per barrel, the PIB cannot be the same.”
However, he stated that while waiting for the wide consultations and passage of the PIB, it is only natural to kick start the reforms in the petroleum industry with the existing laws.
Commenting on what the Federal Government intends to do with the draft legislation, Kachikwu disclosed that the PIB has come to stay though it would take a bit of time to perfect the draft.
“PIB is important, but we need to x-ray the issues. We need at least one year to get it back on track. The reality is that we cannot afford to wait any longer for change in the petroleum sector because of the delay in the passage of PIB, things have got to start happening and that’s exactly what we are doing,” he noted.
Also speaking on the issue, Comrade Peter Esele, former President of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, and who was also President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, noted that though PIB is key, the industry can make do with existing laws to activate essential reforms in the sector.
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.