…says PIB is generally overrated.
Port Harcourt—An environmental advocate, Iniruo Wills, has given his thoughts on the recent passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by both chambers of the Nation Assembly.
In an exclusive interview with Mangrovepen.ng, Wills gave credit to the minister of state for petroleum resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, for the passage of the bill, but described the bill as over-rated.
In his words: “It is wise to see what was passed before commenting. However, it is to Petroleum Minister Timipre Sylva’s credit that the PIB has finally passed, for all it is worth.
“But from the profile of the bill, as initially presented, I would say the PIB is generally over-rated, besides the structural changes to NNPC and the regulatory system.”
The former Bayelsa state commissioner for environment criticised the PIB for adding “too many layers to our bureaucracy by creating two regulatory bodies, one for upstream and another for midstream, instead of one.”
According to him, “The original bill was also useless on the environment, still allowing gas flaring under cheap excuses and penalizing host communities for third party spillages.”
Wills further pointed out that although the bill provides *for three percent of profits* to oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta, it is an improvement of the earlier proposed two and a half percent by the executive.
“Admittedly, it introduces another palliative for host communities in the Niger Delta, but even that is drastically reduced from the ten percent of equity conceived at the start of the PIB journey over twelve years ago to the three percent of profits we’ve seen in one of the media reports, though that too is an improvement on the two and a half percent of operating expenses proposed by the executive,” he stated.
Wills further blamed oil-producing communities and states for not professionally pursuing their interests.
“But the Niger Delta hardly has anyone to blame, as the host states and communities have been sleepy and sluggardly until whenever it pleased the National Assembly to hold one or two-day public hearings, instead of mounting a professionally-driven systematic and sustained lobby for a good deal. That is no way to pursue any strategic interest,” he added.
Wills condemned the devotion of thirty percent profit by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for exploration activities, saying it threatens national cohesion and should rather be devoted to research and the likes.
“If it is true that the passed bill mandates the national oil company to devote thirty percent of its profits to frontier exploration, that is both economically lousy and geopolitically a fraud that may further work against national cohesion.
“Part of that should go instead to aggressive renewables research, development and deployment, and a part to a radical domestic gas utilization vision as a last-minute driver for local productivity before petroleum takes a final relegation on the global front,” he concluded.
