Years after it was first presented, the Nigerian Senate passes the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill.

The Senate, in a historic move, has passed the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), which is the first part of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

The upper legislative chamber passed the bill after the senators considered clauses in the bill. The bill, which has not been passed since 2008, was broken into four parts to allow for easier passage.

Speaking after the bill was passed, Senate President Bukola Saraki said it would ensure transparency and accountability and create an enabling environment for the petroleum sector.

“I want to congratulate all those who contributed to this bill, for many years we have not been able to pass and we made a commitment at the beginning of this 8th senate that we will pass this bill,”he said:

“Not only Nigerians, our friends in the petroleum sector have been waiting for us to put down a framework that will ensure transparency and accountability and create an enabling environment for the petroleum sector.

I hope with this bill, the oil and gas industry will see a new form of investment, we will plug all the loopholes and reduce the corruption and inefficiency”, he added.