A former senator and chieftain of All Progressives Congress, Magnus Abe has warned Nigeria on the dangers of further delay in the passage of Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in Nigeria.
Abe who leaned on the opening remarks ( READ HERE: #TNGPIBConfab: Nigeria cannot waste anymore time in enacting PIB law – Bayagbon ) of TNG’s Publisher/Chief Host Mideno Bayabgon at a one-day colloquium on PIB said Nigeria may suffer without quick enactment of PIB as the world is set to move away from petroleum.
The Stone Age didn’t end because we ran out of stones; the Age of Steaming did not end because world ran out of coals, it ended because the world moved to something else. Today the world is set to move away from petroleum, whatever we are doing now is of a limited plan.
He urged the Nigerian government to draft a development plan that will channel the new wealth created from revamping petroleum sector into infrastructural projects that will provide a new future for Nigeria
If we continue to spend on our recurrent expenditures, both the host communities and Nigeria will continue to wallow in poverty
His words: “We are happy that after so many years of speculations and wrong turns, the PIB may finally see the light of the day. But like every other law, the PIB is not a silver-bullet that will solve all Nigeria’s problem or that of the country’s oil and gas industry. The will still be challenges down the roads but one major challenge is the integrity of implementing the laws, if those who are to interpret and enforce the law are not sincere at the end of the day we will be back where we started from, no matter how good our laws maybe.
“I will like us to recall how a foreign company attempted to steal money from Nigeria using Nigerians laws and institutions. The Nigerian government hired a lawyer but the lawyer chose to represent the interest of the foreign company. This lawyer in question started funneling monies from the foreign companies to our national representatives in Nigeria just to distort the narrative in favour of the foreigners, so they could steal our money; PIB could suffer the same thing if we don’t take care of things we call ‘Nigeria factor
“The second thing I will like to discuss about is the issue of host communities. For me, I will agree with those who say we should concentrate on getting host communities 10% derivation funds from total production, as against operating costs; getting the dues from total production offers the people of Niger Delta more opportunities
Speaking as a Nigerian, we have been producing oil since it was discovered in Oloibiri in Bayelsa, everybody knows Nigeria has made billions, trillions of dollars in Nigeria but today, we are the capital of poverty in Nigeria. As we discuss the PIB today we are pressing the reset button to give Nigeria a new lease of life in the oil industry, we are running against time, In California and all across Europe they are already passing laws to limit filling stations as a direct measure to curb the dangers of hydrocarbon in their territory. The petroleum days is coming to an end.
The Stone Age didn’t end because we ran out of stones; the Age of Steaming did not end because world ran out of coals, it ended because the world moved to something else. Today the world is set to move away from petroleum, whatever we are doing now is of a limited plan. We must make use of this second chance to create new opportunities for our country, we need a development plan that will channel the new wealth created from revamping petroleum sector into infrastructural projects that will will provide a new future for Nigeria; but if we continue to spend on our recurrent expenditures, both the host communities and Nigeria will continue to wallow in poverty.