Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a steering committee to oversee the process of implementation of the newly signed Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
The steering committee, which has 12 months duration for the assignment, is headed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva.
Speaking during a meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly led by the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday, Buhari said that relevant ministries, departments, agencies had been tasked to work with the minister for the successful completion of the implementation process.
He lamented that lack of political will has hampered the growth of the Nigerian oil industry and that the country has lost about $50 billion in the last 10 years.
A statement by the presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, on Wednesday in Abuja that the primary responsibility of the steering committee “shall be to guide the effective and timely implementation of the PIA in the course of transition to the petroleum industry envisaged in the reform programme, and ensure that the new institutions created have the full capability to deliver on their mandate under the new legislation.”
According to the statement, the committee has the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Group Managing Director of NNPC, Executive Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), as well as representatives of the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning as members.
It added that President Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Natural Resources, Olufemi Lijadu, would serve is the External Legal Adviser, while the Executive Secretary of Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) would serve as Head of the Coordinating Secretariat and the Implementation Working Group.
The statement also said that President Buhari was hopeful that the new Act would coordinate the activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and reposition it for further progress.
President Buhari signed the Petroleum Industry Bill into law on Monday, August 16.
GIK/APA