By Chioma Iruke
Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari has signed the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law, upon his return to the country from London.
The president signed the Bill from isolation, in line with COVID-19 protocols, after spending about two weeks in United Kingdom on medical tourism.
The PIB is an oil reform bill, regarded as critical to the repositioning of Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry, which has suffered various false-starts in the National Assembly for many years.
Although it had been speculated that the PIB would lead to the dissolution of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva has clarified that the new PIB seeks to commercialize the NNPC rather than remove it.
It would be recalled that both chambers of the National Assembly passed the bill sometime in June, after over 15 years of debate.
Also in isolation are the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba; National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno (rtd) and Director General of National Intelligence Agency, Amb. Ahmed Abubakar.
