A scanty chamber of House of Representatives with only 47 members out of the 360 house of Reps members passed the Petroleum Industry Bill on Thursday, June 4, 2015 presided over by Deputy Speaker, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha in a bid to beat the expiration of the tenure of the seventh assembly on Friday, June 5, 2015.
The PIB was considered and passed for the third and final time.
Be it as it may, the passage of the bill pulls no effect whatsoever as it did not receive the mandatory concurrence from the Senate.
The 7th Senate had formally ended its tenure on Thursday, June 4, 2015 and abandoned the PIB at the committee stage, a development which rendered the passage by the House of Reps an “effort in futility”.
A bill is only considered a law when the passage is done by both the Upper and Lower chambers of the National Assembly.
So therfore, it behoves on the 8th National Assembly to look into the Petroleum Industry Bill.
Mr Emeka Ihedioha, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, however, acknowledged the reality of the situation when he told members that the rest of the work was now left to the Senate, while applauding the House for keeping a promise it had earlier made to Nigerians to pass the bill before the end of the tenure.
“We received a lot of bashing on the PIB, but we painstakingly went through the report clause by clause to ensure that a thorough work was done.
“Whenever we had differences on regional or other lines, we resolved them amicably in the course of consideration in the national interest.
“As a House, we have done our part. The rest of the job is now left with the Senate. If the Senate concurs with us, fine; if they do not, the bulk will be passed over to the 8th Assembly,” the Deputy Speaker said.
On numerous of occasions, the House had to refer the bill back to the AdHoc Committee on PIB headed by the Chief Whip, Mr. Ishaka Bawa, to re-work some of the disputed clauses.
Arguments often tilted toward regional interests as the North and the South fought to protect their interests in the oil and gas industry.
