The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has been scraped by the Senate.
This is following the passage of the controversial Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB).
The Senate had on Thursday, considered and passed the much talked about PIGB, after its clause by clause consideration.
In place of NNPC, the Senate recommended the establishment of three new agencies to effectively manage the largely troubled oil and gas sector.
Among the agencies established in the bill, is the Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NPRC), which shall be headed by a Chairman.
The commission will also consist of Commissioners, whose appointments and removal shall be subject to Senate approval.
The Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) is now under the new commission.
The PIGB also established the Nigerian Petroleum Asset Management Company (NPAMC) and National Petroleum Company (NPC), to coordinate the activities of other existing agencies, including the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
The bill which consists of 132 clauses has taken time to come, having outlived the 5th to 7th Senate, making the Senate President, Bukola Saraki to describe its passage as “historical”.
When signed into law, the document is expected to stimulate Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
It is also expected to help Nigeria reduce corruption and inefficiency in the sector.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Tayo Alasoadura said he was delighted that his committee could achieve much on the bill
“Today we have achieved what people believed was impossible to accomplish”, he told Journalists.
It could be recalled that nine months ago, the Senate mandated its relevant committees to work on the old copy of the PIB, which was divided into different compartments.
On his part, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Gas, Akpan Bassey, said, the “jinx has been broken”.
He expressed optimism that the bill would create confidence on how the business of oil and gas was done in the country.
“It will create the right signal to international community that Nigeria is ready for business”, he said.
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