Siky Aliyu, managing director, National Engineering and Technical Company Limited, wants the National Assembly to urgently pass the Petroleum Industry Bill because Nigerians have been losing great opportunities over its non-passage for the past 10 years

By Samuel Ibezim

THE non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, has remained a source of concern for stakeholders in the oil sector. Not only that, the segmentation of the bill which gave birth to the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, PIGB, passed by the National Assembly is yet to make a meaningful impact on Nigeria’s economy.

Consequently, Siky Aliyu, managing director, National Engineering and Technical Company Limited, has appealed to the National Assembly to urgently pass the bill because according to him Nigeria has lost opportunities over its non-passage for the past 10 years.

Aliyu made the appeal while speaking to Realnews in his office in Lagos, on Tuesday, March 13. He said that the passed PIBG had not addressed the fiscal aspect of the oil and gas sector which would convince the International Oil Companies, IOC, to invest in Nigeria instead of moving to another country.

When asked to estimate the amount Nigerians lost over the non-passage, the NETCO helmsman said it was huge as many projects were suspended by the IOC’s because “they want to know what the fiscal regime is, what are the taxes that would be slammed on them? What are the other things they need to commit to? And you have to put all these things in your economics before you check what your profitability is and then determine what in real term would be your return on investment.  Without getting out those things or where all those things are, I doubt, you cannot commit huge source and for that reason, a lot of projects that would have happened have been shelved. They just say – wait let’s see where they are going with this PIB.”

Also, he said that there was decline in investment in the petroleum sector by the IOCs because of the non-passage of the PIB and warned that Nigerians would continue to be the losers considering huge resources involved in investing in the oil sector. Also, he cited of the Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, project that involved 10,000 workers and said that it had yielded much profits for the country. He insisted that delayed decision on the PIB would have ripple effect on the economy of the country.

“It is high time this bill was passed and put to rest. So, everybody can then look at it and then say- okay, what does it say? Now, I am okay with it, let me come and invest or I am not okay with it let me take my investment somewhere else. But at least, let there be clarity, let there be certainty as to what the requirements are if you are investing in Nigeria oil and gas industry.” Aliyu said.

On some factors that caused the delay in passing the PIB, he told Realnews that many stakeholders were involved and wanted to know how it would affect them. “IOCs are one of the stakeholders, the communities are one of the stakeholders, and the government also is a stakeholder. So, there are so many stakeholders and everybody is looking at how this bill is going to affect them individually and collectively. IOC’s are looking at it how it affects them. If you put all these levies in, it is going to reduce their return on investment. So, why should they come and invest? So, and why do you want to tax them? They have been enjoying, you know, reduction in taxes for many years,” he said.

The NETCO managing director said that the current government on its part, had visited countries to see how it’s done and try to imbibe international standards so that IOCs won’t cash in on the country’s weakness over oil regulations to milk it. Moreso, he said that government was diversifying the economy but urged that it should hasten up the process because oil price could go down in few years when developed countries that buy from Nigeria now would embrace electric cars.

Indeed, the PIB has been a contentious bill for more than 16 years as a result of the tussle among the stakeholders, successive governments and the National Assembly. International Oil Companies and few Nigerians have been accused of fighting to ensure that it is not passed. The PIB, if passed among other benefits, will help to create more jobs for Nigerians and foster a conducive business environment for petroleum operations.

However, the confusion and controversies brought by the bill gave birth to the segmentation of the bill. This is process whereby the National Assembly has decided to pass the bill in bits rather as a whole.

From the segmentation, the Petroleum Industry Government Bill, PIGB, was passed on January 17, 2018, by the House of Representatives while the Senate passed had passed it on May 25, 2017.

Explaining the gains of the bill, Tayo Alasoadura, chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), said that it would become illegal to employ foreigners for certain skills that could be sourced locally and that even where such skills were sourced from abroad, due to unavailability locally, it would be mandatory for Nigerians to understudy such an expatriate. Also, there will be more jobs for Nigerian local contractors, especially those from the oil producing regions would be part of the gain.

– Mar. 24, 2018 @ 4:35 GMT |