Former Governor of Gombe State and Vice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Senator Danjuma Goje, has accused the Federal Government and the leadership of the Senate of not showing the required commitment towards the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill.
Goje, an All Progressives Congress senator, specifically said that the Senate leadership had not only starved the committee of funds, but had frustrated its efforts to carry out necessary activities to pass the Bill.
The former governor stated these during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja.
He expressed serious doubts on the willingness of the present National Assembly to pass the PIB.
According to him: “As the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), I am deeply involved in the whole exercise.
“It is like the Federal Government does not want this Bill to be passed.
“I am also of the view that the leadership of the Senate does not want this PIB to be passed.
“I am saying this because our Joint Committee of the two Senate committees on Petroleum resources (upstream and downstream) and that of the Judiciary was expected to hold public hearing.
“Initially, we wanted to go abroad to see how other countries overcame their own problems, especially those who faced similar problems with Nigeria, but were not given the facilities to go.
“We even wanted to conduct public hearings in the six geopolitical zones to get the feelings of Nigeria on the PIB, but we were not given the funds to do that.
“In fact, we are being starved of funds in the joint committee.
“We are not being encouraged.
“We are not given the facilities to do the work.
“That is why it is said in the Senate it looks like some people somewhere are not interested in getting this Bill passed.
“So, this bill may pass if and only if some miracles happen between now and the end of the current legislative year.
“I hear some people say PIB may soon be passed.
“When is it?
“We are in the committee.
“Even the public hearing was not properly conducted.
“We only did one public hearing or two in the National Assembly.
“And a very important Bill like PIB, which is the live wire of this country, deserves more than that.”
Goje, who is one the senators that defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the APC, reasoned that in view of the importance of the PIB to the people and the entire economy, the Committee ought to go round the country to conduct public hearings with a view to getting the pulse of the people in order to know how to handle the passage of the proposal.