Senator Nkechi Nwaogu, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Oil and Gas Resource, has expressed optimism about the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill before the end of 2013.
Nwaogu told newsmen in Aba, Abia State on Monday that consultations were still on with stakeholders, especially from the northern part of the country, to address fears on the bill’s contents.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the Senate had approved that the bill should be moved to its Second Reading stage.
The Senate had said that the bill should be read for the second time in March.
According to her, any moves by any section of the country to delay the passage of the bill will do more harm than good.
She said that the PIB would transform Nigeria’s economy, unbundle the gas sector and moderate how businesses should be done in the oil and gas sector.
“I am optimistic that with the PIB before the National Assembly, it is expected that the gas sector will be unbundled and be more transparent,” Nwaogu said.
She said that infrastructure decay and poor funding of public goods were major challenges facing the development of the gas sector in the country.
Nwaogu said that partnership between the Federal Government and the private sector would attract growth to the oil and gas industry.
Nwaogu said: “Presently, we are doing a lot of consultations on the PIB to accelerate its passage.
“There are certain complaints about the 10 per cent community fund as stipulated in the bill’s content that we are looking into.”
She, however, urged the Federal Government to review its gas pricing policy in order to woo more investors to the sector.
“We want to ensure that investors enjoy mouth-watering incentives like tax holidays,” she said, adding: “We are told that Nigeria in 2015 can earn over N15 trillion from the gas sector if we give incentives to investors.”
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