President Muhammadu Buhari has proposed the scrapping of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) in the Petroleum Industry Bill 2020 submitted to the National Assembly.
The president also proposes the creation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
The bill states that the NNPC Limited will be incorporated by the minister of petroleum, who together with his finance counterparts, will determine NNPC’s assets and liabilities that will be inherited by the new firm, PUNCH reports Monday.
Section 54 (1, 2 and3) reads in part, “The Minister (of Petroleum) and the Minister of Finance shall determine the assets, interests and liabilities of NNPC to be transferred to NNPC Limited or its subsidiaries and upon the identification, the minister shall cause such assets, interests and liabilities to be transferred to NNPC Limited.
“Assets, interests and liabilities of NNPC not transferred to NNPC Limited or its subsidiary under subsection 1 of this section shall remain the assets, interests and liabilities of NNPC until they become extinguished or transferred to the government.
“NNPC shall cease to exist after its remaining assets, interests and liabilities other than its interests, assets, and liabilities transferred to NNPC Limited or its subsidiaries under subsection 1 of this section shall have been extinguished or transferred to the government.”
The bill also proposes the establishment of an agency known as the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission which will be responsible for the technical and commercial regulation of upstream petroleum operations.
Also to be created is the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority known as ‘The Authority’.
Previous administrations had attempted to reform the oil industry but with little success.
In Buhari’s first term, the National Assembly split the bill into four parts – the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, Petroleum Industry Administration Bill, Petroleum Industry Fiscal Bill and Petroleum Host Community Bill — in a bid to fast-track its passage into law. The PIGB was passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives in May 2017 and January 2018 respectively.
Buhari, however, declined assent to the PIGB.
The newspaper said it could not get the special adviser to the president on National Assembly matters (Senate), Senator Babajide Omoworare and the special assistant to the president on National Assembly matters (House of Representatives) Umar el-Yakub to make comments.
