The Petroleum Industry Bill on Tuesday passed second reading at the House of Representatives.
The bill, an omnibus law meant to regulate the entire sphere of the industry and repeal all current existing oil and gas legislation, had struggled to see the light of day despite its introduction to the National Assembly over 16 years ago.
The Leader of the House, Ado Dogwa who led the debate said the bill will herald “unprecedented institutional reforms.”
He warned that crude oil will soon lose relevance, and urged the House to pass the bill as soon as possible.
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Also supporting the bill, the Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu noted that there is oil everywhere in Africa and urged the House to provide the needed legal framework.
“We have over 37 billion barrels of oil. In the next 20 years, if nothing is done, we will only be able to extract 18 billion barrels. If this should happen, what shall we do with the other 18.5billion barrels?
“We should be exporting to Niger not importing from Niger. If the UK is serious, it means that we are only going to be buying an electric vehicle. Last night, Joe Biden appointed John Kerry as the Tsar on Climate Change, which means he is focusing on ending oil demand.
