Financial Energy Review
……………by Jenifer Dike…………
The recent Proposal by President Muhammadu Buhari seeking for the amendment of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) has been described as being too early and may scare away investors
This assertion was made by Dr. Francis Adigwe, a Petroleum law consultant while speaking during a webinar organized by Financial Energy Review in collaboration with Emmanuel Egbogah Foundation with theme: Implementation Strategy of PIA for Value Addition.
President had asked the Nigerian Senate to amend the recently signed Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
In the letter read by the Senate President Ahmed Lawan on Tuesday, Buhari wanted the removal of the ministers of petroleum and finance from the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
digwe said that it was too early for the President to rush to the National Assembly seeking for the amendment of the PIA barely a month after signing the bill into law.
Other speakers at the webinar moderated by Prof. Wunmi Iledare include Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, Dr. Timothy Okon, Dr. Tunji Oyebanji. The speakers proffer pathways of strategic Implementation of PIA 2021 for Value creation and addition.
They agreed that decades of delay in formulating a new petroleum policy framework in the management of Nigeria’s oil and energy resources is a factor that has caused dwindling revenue, diversion of major investments, very low rig activities for exploration and production, low reserves additions, poor economic development, very high unemployment rate, very low per capital income, and many economic woes for the nation.
“The expectations that the passage of the Petroleum Bill 2020 (PIB) into law, the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA 2021), would erode uncertainties in the petroleum industry and boost investors’ confidence to spur new investments in the Nigeria are quite plausible” Prof. Iledare said.
