The Senate will debate the much awaited report of its joint committees on Petroleum (Upstream, Downstream and Gas) on the Petroleum Industry Bill on Thursday, Senate President Ahmad Lawan announced in plenary on Tuesday

Mr Lawan made the disclosure after the chairman of the panel, Senator Mohammed Sabo (Jigawa South West) submitted the committees’ report.

“We will be considering the report on Thursday. We have today, tomorrow and Thursday to look at the report so that when we consider the report, we will be doing so on the basis of what we have been able to read from this very important report,” Mr Lawan announced.

The Senate President urged the Joint Committee to provide lawmakers with copies of the bill ahead of its consideration to enable them study its content.

“This report, a copy each, must be made available to each and every Senator today, this afternoon.

“I don’t know how the Committee would arrange it, but every Senator must have a copy today.

“And we would be considering the report on Thursday.

“So, we have today, tomorrow until the beginning of Thursday to look at the report so that when we consider it, we will be doing so on the basis of what we have been able to read from this very important report,” Mr Lawan said.

The bill seeks to establish a framework for the creation of commercially-oriented and profit-driven petroleum entities, to ensure value addition and internationalisation of the petroleum industry, through the creation of efficient and effective governing institutions with clear and separate roles for the petroleum industry.

It is the first in a series of long awaited petroleum industry laws designed to reform the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

The PIB, an omnibus law meant to regulate the entire sphere of the industry and repeal all current existing oil and gas legislation, had struggled to see the light of day ins spite of its introduction to the National Assembly over 16 years ago.

Subsequently, the National Assembly decided to break the PIB into a number of different pieces of legislation guiding specific aspects of the industry.