TheCable

Senate President Ahmad Lawan says the national assembly may extend the passage of the petroleum industry bill (PIB) till May.

He spoke with state house correspondents on Monday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

“At the moment, I think they (joint committee of the two chambers of the national assembly on PIB) are about to start writing the report, which they will lay before the two chambers of the national assembly sometimes in April, probably by the middle of next month which is April,” he said.

“It is our determination, plan and design that we will be able to pass the PIB by the end of April, by the grace of God or latest should anything untoward happen, before the middle of May. But we are determined to pass this PIB by the end of April.

“The PIB is one essential and probably the most essential legislation, we’ll have to pass because this is going to change the entire economic scope of Nigeria.

“There’ll be more resources, foreign direct investment flowing into the country and more certainty that is essential that you can come to Nigeria and invest in the oil industry, because there’s a legal framework that regulates the entire environment. 

“So we are looking at the end of April, or the early part of of May.”

Similarly, Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representatives, said the earlier commitment of the legislators to pass the bill by April is no longer sustainable.

According to him, the upcoming Easter break and Ramadan fast might affect the date.

“On the PIB, the senate president has covered the ground or covered the field like we say. We made a commitment to the Nigerian people and that commitment is April, end of April,” he said.

“But let me just add that, you know, give or take two three weeks, like he said, only because at the time the commitment was made, we didn’t take into cognizance the fact of Easter break and Ramadan is coming up as well.

“We’re still shooting for the end of April. But we’re not going to straitjacket ourselves into a particular date, when I say end of April, we are talking thereabout, it may be a week after maybe two weeks after at most, we will do our best.”