Protocols :
At the inception of the 8th Assembly, I intimated my colleagues of the need to chart for ourselves, a carefully thought-out agenda to guide us in our legislative mandate if we were to remain focused and efficient. My conviction derived from my belief that we have a lot to offer, as lawmakers, to get this country on the path of progress and development. I also made it clear that our focus in this quest would be on consolidating on the achievements of the 7th Assembly.
2. It is instructive to reiterate that the agenda of the present administration is to bring CHANGE to Nigerians. For us, change means work – a lot of which had been done by the Legislature in the past. We believe a lot more can be done to take our parliament and the nation even further in the spirit of the CHANGE agenda. After all meaningful change is never about what you abandon but what you embrace. It is never about what you are turning from but what you are turning to.The challenge before us is what to embrace or turn to in this all important sector.
3. The passion for Change has provided the much-needed energy for us to push reforms in critical sectors of our country. We are determined to take this cause across vital sectors of the economy with specific attention on the Petroleum industry. This has become urgent because the industry has not been forthcoming in meeting expectations and actualization of its great promises. Instead, it has become the classic case of inefficiency, mismanagement and ineptitude.
4. It is deliberate that Sec.44 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria apart from vesting the powers to make laws in the legislature went further to clearly invest it with powers to make laws for the management of the oil and gas sector hence it states thus:
“…the entire property in and control of all minerals, mineral oils and natural gas in under or upon any land in Nigeria or in, under or upon the territorial waters and the Exclusive Economic Zone of Nigeria shall vest in the Government of the Federation and shall be managed in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.”
5. This is why we are here today. We are not unaware of the several failed attempts at redeeming the petroleum industry by our predecessors. The Petroleum Industry Bill has been down a long, tortuous, and chequered road. Most of us have been co-travelers on the journey to pass the bill into law, and have the requisite experience to avoid any pitfalls ahead, hence this resolve to seek proper consultations with you and build confidence amongst us.
6. The need to make consensus and lend a voice to long suppressed agitations in the drafting and consideration of petroleum industry bills informed our decision to organize this stakeholders Summit. We are optimistic that this approach will provide the crucial platform to enable us cross pollinate ideas and ventilate our positions on certain contentious issues, regardless how vexed they may be. You can rest assured that our work at the National Assembly is to do your good intention.
7. Nigeria is one of the richest petroleum regions of the world. Paradoxically, it has never been able to maximize effectively its immense oil and gas potentials and the revenue accruing from it. The downstream operates in a state of almost continuous malfunction, and for years has been characterized by comatose refineries and an inefficient downstream. It operates under an inadequate legal framework, with an inefficient and poorly maintained pipeline network and depot system. The result is that Nigeria is both one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil, and one of the world’s leading importers of petroleum products, a dependency that has enriched the elite at the expense of the increasingly impoverished masses.
8. The downstream runs on a system of subsidies until recently and uniform pricing which has proved ineffective, in addition to being administered in a very opaque way. Shortages and inadequate supply have characterized the Nigerian downstream for over two decades and can be described as an example of system failure.
9. The upstream has not fared better either. Pipeline vandalism, large-scale environmental degradation, and the world’s highest levels of crude oil theft have been constants for several years. Decades after the advent of Nigeria’s petroleum industry, problems which led to host community agitation remain unaddressed and highly politicized, and the question of the extent to which revenues from the industry should be shared among the three tiers of government and the people remain, as do the content and limits of corporate social responsibility. These are all crucial issues that should be addressed to guarantee and ensure a stable polity in Nigeria.
10. These examples represent just a few of the present problems of Nigeria’s petroleum industry, and are reflective of an industry that is in critical need of total restructuring, which can only be commenced through the enactment of laws that provide the legal framework that will promote the emergence of an optimal petroleum industry. The existing laws are outdated, anachronistic, and out-of-sync with international best practices and current technological advances for decades, with the primary laws being the Petroleum Act of 1969, and the Petroleum Profits Tax Act 1958.
11. Legal reform, which is the bedrock of meaningful restructuring of the industry, is thus a dire necessity. Unfortunately, it has not happened, even though activities towards reform have been taking place since 2000. For reasons which will be made apparent in the course of this Summit, these activities have ended up in failure, evidenced by the non-enactment of either the Petroleum Industry Bills of 2008 and 2012, which were before the 6th and 7th National Assembly respectively. In the meantime, the situation in the petroleum industry and Nigeria’s sustainable development, have progressively worsened.
12. I have on at least three different occasions publicly requested the Executive to as a matter of urgency send an Executive Bill on his intended reforms in the Petroleum sector. We had hoped to avoid the situation in the past two Assemblies(6th and 7th) where the PIB was sent to the National Assembly very late in its tenure thereby guaranteeing failure to pass the Bills. In the absence of an executive bill on the matter, two private member’s bills have now been introduced. We urge participants to familiarize themselves with these bills and make necessary inputs at the public hearing stage of the bills.We also hope that this Summit will craft its own version of the PIB for the attention of the National,Assembly, taking into consideration all the existing drafts and also the pending bills. In this regard therefore I wish to correct the erroneous impression in the media that there is a pending executive bill on PIB on the floor of the National Assembly.
13. Over the years, Nigeria has performed much worse than sub-Saharan Africa as a whole and much worse than other regions of the developing world, in terms of human development indicators, to the extent that it is regarded as a foster child for ‘how not to run a petroleum industry’.
14. The intention of the House of Representatives is to revisit the process of petroleum industry reform, and to work towards the successful enactment of laws that will regulate the Nigerian petroleum industry in accordance with the rule of law, good governance, and due process, for the sustainable development of Nigerians and the total advancement of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is our conviction that the reform of the petroleum industry is a vital necessity, if Nigeria is to realize its God-given potentials. While not downplaying the critical and inescapable need for diversification, for a country that depends largely on revenues from petroleum industry, there is no alternative to reform.
15. You have been invited to play a pivotal role in this important National Stakeholders Summit on Petroleum Industry Reform in Nigeria. It is hoped that This Summit will be a forum for frank and open discussions on the state of Nigeria’s petroleum industry, and the way to ensure successful legislative reform through the passage of bills that provide the optimal legal framework, in alignment with principles of good governance and transparency.
16. It was the most celebrated English Judge of the 20th century and master of Rolls, Lord Denning, who said “You cannot place something on nothing and expect it to stand”. In the same vein, one cannot place something heavy on a weak base and expect it to stand. For many years, we have placed our petroleum industry on laws that are not in tune with today’s realities and completely out of sync with international standards and best practices. We have hoped against all hope that the systemic failure in the sector will somehow be fixed by extant laws which are grossly inadequate. Our hopes did not materialize and there can be no holding back in our quest to sanitize the petroleum sector through effective, efficient and effectual legislation.
17. There is no gainsaying that laws set the proper foundation for a functional society. So a defective or inadequate legislation is akin to building a house on a shaky foundation with the expectation that it will stand nonetheless. We cannot afford to continue with such faulty expectations. The present leadership and members of the 8th National Assembly are poised to enact good laws that will enable the petroleum sector to stand.
18. We have a commitment to bequeathing to Nigerians, very robust laws that will seamlessly impact on the people in the most positive ways. We have resolved to remain proactive and to pass new laws for petroleum reforms. We are poised to completely overhaul and transform the Nigerian petroleum industry, particularly, the institutional framework which is believed to be the key to any meaningful reform in the sector.
19. On this note, I urge you to consider this vital occasion as an invitation to you all on behalf of the House of Representatives and indeed Nigerians, to join in the forging of a functional Petroleum Industry legislation that will take Nigeria into the future of our dream.
20. On this note, It is my singular honour and privilege to now declare this Summit open.
21. God bless you all, God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria
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