WorldStage Newsonline– The Chairman of Nigeria’s House of Representative Committee on Gas, Mr Fred Agbedi has assured that the lower house would pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in the next one month.
This is coming as the Federal Government is said to have jettisoned the Nigerian Gas Master Plan which was nurtured by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to transform the gas sector in favour of a new policy direction called ‘7-Big Wins’.
Speaking at the Natural Gas Business Forum 2018 hosted by the Nigerian Gas Association in Lagos on Tuesday, he said that the decision to fast track the passage of the bill was borne out of the need to lay down solid foundation for an enduring petroleum laws in the country.
He said the bill would have been passed earlier, but the House was constrained by floods of conflicting presentations by gas stakeholders.
The lawmaker said that the lower house was desirous of fashioning out robust laws that would strengthen the nation’s business environment through collaboration with stakeholders in the gas sector.
Mr Justine Ezeala, who represented the Managing Director of Nigerian Gas Company emphasized the need for the private and public sector collaboration to ensure the growth of the nation’s gas sector.
Eseala said that the NGC was well positioned to changing the face of gas and also ensuring that the sector deliver the right input to the sector.
In his remarks, Mr Ed Ubong, Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Gas said that his company had been in the vanguard of developing domestic gas sector and had initiated vertical integrated program leading to Shell’s divestment into the power sector.
He said this had enabled his company to develop 650MW of power plant and linked up several industrial and manufacturing businesses into the country’s supply network.
The Managing Director of ND Western, Dr Layi Fatona however lamented on the jettisoning of the Nigerian Gas Master Plan for fragmented policies by the Federal Government, saying it had caused serious setback to the nation’s gas sector.
He advised that once a policy document was made and adopted, efforts should be made to implement it.
