The contentious Petroleum Industry Bill on Thursday passed through second reading on the floor of the Senate.
This was made possible as Northern senators, who had hitherto been seen as opposed to its passage, soft-pedaled.
The debate on the draft bill had generated heated arguments on Tuesday and Wednesday, pitching the Southern senators against their colleagues from the North.
Interestingly, they have all jettisoned sectional interest now as they unanimously agreed that there was the need for the bill to scale through in order to check the excesses of the Minister of Petroleum, Dizeani Allison-Maduekwe, as well as regulating the oil sector for policy consistency.
Having passed through second reading, the draft PIB is to be forwarded to the committees on Upstream, Downstream and Gas.
It is to be co-chaired by the Committee Judiciary and Human Rights.
The President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, who presided over the plenary session, had doused tension by insisting that the bill has not in anyway divided the senators as reported in the media.
Mark said: “The bill has not divided the chamber.
“Neither was it against any of the sections of the country, but all in the interest of the nation and Nigerians in particular.
“We are also very united on the fact that so much power is given to the minister, particularly Section 191 where the minister can grant lease unconditionally.
“You can also revoke lease unconditionally.
“We also all agree that the frontier exploration services should be properly funded and independent and the time within which it will compete and start prospecting for oil in all parts of the country.
“Those who spoke very strongly for South-South or Niger Delta also emphasised this and this was an area where people expressed fear.
“The fact of the matter is that we all need to be on the same wave length.
“I must emphasise that the bill is not North vs South.
“Far from that.
“Because what is good for the North is also good for the South and what is bad for the South, is bad for the North.
“So it is not one section of the country versus another section of the country.”
Mark also noted that the draft bill is not sacrosanct, reminding the senators that the international community is interested in its passage.
He spoke further: “The bill also, like a senator pointed out, is like the lifewire of this country.
“It has national interest as well as international interest and I think the IOCs are very interested in the debate that is going on, just as Nigerians are interested in the debate.
“Let me emphasise that no bill has come to the chamber that we have not tinkered with.
“It will go for second reading and public hearing and by the time it comes back, there will be amendments, additions and subtractions.
“So the draft bill that has been given to us is not sacrosanct.
“When the bill goes for public hearing, the committees that will look at it will bring the bill back in a manner that will reflect the views that we have expressed here and the view that was gathered from the public.
“So, I want to say that the bill is a worthy bill.
“The important thing is whether the bill guarantees the transparency we want in the petroleum sector, because that is a key issue because there is no transparency at the moment.
“Does the bill ensure that more revenue accrues to the government and by extension to the people and more importantly does the bill ensure the independence of the new companies that will come out from the unbundled NNPC (Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and finally does the bill encourage investment?”
The Senate president said the lawmakers were “all conscious of the fact that almost all African countries are nearly oil producing countries, so the competition is stiff more than what it used to be before.
“There is also the issue of host community.
“That is the one that is most contentious.
“But the background to it is that the monies accruing to the Niger Delta have not not been properly utilized.
“That is the fear that is the underlining fear of everybody.
“Everybody that spoke here agrees that the host community needs to benefit.
“It is how they benefit that has been a problem.
“The fear is whether the 10 per cent for the host community will be another pipeline where a few characters would hijack it at the expense of the host community.”
Senator Smart Adeyemi (PDP, Kogi West), however, introduced another dimension, enjoining his colleagues to expand the scope of the bill to include the downstream sector.
According to Adeyemi: “Nigeria will not become a perpetual importer of oil.
“But what happens when the time is ripe for the country to export oil.
“I don’t think we have offended God in the North that oil cannot be discovered and when the time comes, it will be to the glory of us all.
“I trust that when this bill is sent to the standing committees, the senators would put the interest of all Nigerians and by the time it gets back to us, we will take it clause by clause.”
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