Despite opposition by some people, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, Monday, signed the Petroleum Industry Bill 2021 into law.
In a statement, Presidential aide Femi Adesina said President Buhari who is working from home assented to the Bill on Monday, August 16, in his determination to fulfil his constitutional duty.
The Nigerian leader is complying with a mandatory five days quarantine as required by the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 after returning from London on Friday, August 13.
Mr Adesina in the statement said “the ceremonial part of the new legislation will be done on Wednesday, after the days of mandatory isolation would have been fulfilled.
“The Petroleum Industry Act provides legal, governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the Nigerian petroleum industry, the development of host communities, and related matters.
“The Senate had passed the Bill on July 15, 2021, while the House of Representatives did the same on July 16, thus ending a long wait since the early 2000s, and notching another high for the Buhari administration.”
Groundswell of opposition to PIB
Edwin Clark, an Ijaw national leader, has described the newly passed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) as “satanic, unjust and embarrassing.”
An elder and member Board of Trustees, BoT, Eket Integrity Forum, Chief Usoro. I. Usoro, stated: ”Clearly if you ask individuals, groups in the Niger Delta, they will tell you that we are not happy about what happened. We totally reject the PIB as passed and we ask the president not to assent to it because it will lead to more problems in Nigeria. It will go to buttress what is said about the northerners not regarding other people’s opinion.”
