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After weeks of rescheduling, the House of Representatives
briefly mentioned the Petroleum Industry Bill yesterday but shelved the
long-awaited passage after lawmakers rowed over the planned deregulation of the
sector.

The members only considered two clauses of the 405 reviewed
clauses of the bill, on Thursday – the same number earlier examined by the
senate – which spells out the bill’s introductory remarks and the purview of
its contents.

But the lawmakers, polarised between the North and the South,
expressed concerns on the contentious deregulation of the petroleum sector – a
government plan now to be integrated into the bill- and whether Nigeria’s oil
wealth is owned by the federal government as stated in the bill or the
federation.

Northern lawmakers argued that the region will be worst hit by
deregulation since transportation of fuel products will raise the retail cost;
while lawmakers from the south, insisted that the policy will serve the nation
best.

“I cannot sit here as a representative of my people and accept a
policy that will make the people of Borno State pay higher for fuel than people
in Lagos or Port Harcourt,” said Sa’adatu Sani, who heads the House committee
on Millennium Development Goals.

Southern representatives, whose members head the three
committees that turned in the PIB, responded that an open market will in the
long run introduce competition, combat high cost and as well dislodge the tiny
“cabal” that is feeding on government subsidy.

“We must be very clear, this bill is in the interest of the
country not for a particular section,” said Igo Aguma, the chairman of the
House Committee on Gas, which worked on the bill jointly with the committees on
Upstream Petroleum, Downstream Petroleum and Justice.

Ameliorating impact

As a safeguard, part of the projection is to site at least three
government-run mega filling stations in each of the 774 local governments
across the nation.

Again, lawmakers from the north protested the inclusion of a
clause vesting the ownership of petroleum in the country to “the Government of
the Federation,” asking that it be replaced with “the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.”

Both concerns were, however, overruled by the deputy speaker,
Usman Nafada, who nudged a lean plenary attended by only 15 members, to push
the final debates of the legislation before adjourning for another break.

“There may be difficulties when we start implementing them, but
over time I believe they will take shape,” he said. “For those who think that
the law is for a part because today we have oil in the south, the north too
will have oil.”

The House is to resume sitting April 19 after elections. Mr.
Nafada said the House, yet to complete work on other major bills including the
Anti-terrorism and Money laundering bills, will pass the long-standing
Petroleum Industry Bill upon resumption.