The Senate, on Thursday, passed harmonised Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) amidst protest by senators from the South-South zone.
The passage followed the adoption of the conference report on the bill, presented by the Senate leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (APC, Kebbi).
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The Red Chamber had, on July 6, constituted conference committee to harmonise PIB, which was passed last month.
PIB, in the version passed by the Senate, provides that three percent of operating expenditure of oil companies (OPEX), estimated at $500 million annually, be channeled to the development of host communities.
In the House of Representatives, the equity share was pegged at five percent.
The committee was mandated to harmonise the discrepancies in the bill before sending it to the Presidency for assent.
The Red Chamber adopted the committee’s report, which recommended three percent of oil profit to the development of host communities.
However, Senators Seriake Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa) and George Sekibo (PDP, Rivers) protested the committee’s report.
Senator Dickson threatened to staged a walkout but Senate President Ahmad Lawan appealed to the aggrieved senators not to leave but instead make a “political capital out of the things you didn’t get”.
