Abuja – The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr Leo Ogor (Delta-PDP) said passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by the National Assembly would instil transparency in the nation’s oil sector operations.
Ogor told journalists in Abuja on Thursday that with the recent steps by the Federal Government in the downstream oil operations, the national assembly would have an extensive work and consultation on the new PIB.
He, however, said that the House was yet to receive the new PIB.
According to him, what is currently before the House is a bill seeking the administrative restructuring of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
“No way PIB would have solved the issue of fuel imports and consumption.
“We have made a lot of mistakes as a nation; we have wasted trillions of Naira in subsidizing what we shouldn’t have subsidized.
“Subsidy in my opinion is funding the rich; therefore, l will appeal to the government to come up with some form of palliatives,’’ Ogor said.
The minority leader who also opposed the concept of removing host communities in the PIB as beneficiaries in the oil prospecting process, said that was unrealistic and unfair.
“The House will never pass such a bill, because we know the true situation of affairs in the host communities,” he said.
On the passage of the bill establishing the Federal University of Petroleum, Effurun, he commended the sponsor of the bill, Rep. Evelyn Oboro, for the initiative. (NAN