The Senate has mandated its Committee on Petroleum Upstream, Downstream and Gas to conduct a holistic investigation on the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) with regards to potential exit of International Oil Companies (IOCs) from Nigeria.
This followed a motion brought before it by the Senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District, Senator Aniekan Bassey, entitled, “Urgent Need for Enquiry into Implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 with Regards to Potential Exit of International Oil Companies (IOCS) from Nigeria: Case of ExxonMobil in Akwa Ibom State” during plenary on Thursday.
In a statement by Senator Bassey’s media unit on Friday, Bassey, while praying the Senate to get involved in addressing the situation, expressed worry over the impending adverse effects of the exit of ExxonMobil from Akwa Ibom State.
He enumerated the effects to include: high loss of jobs, exit of professionals and service companies from Akwa Ibom, loss of revenue; abandonment of certain yet-to-be satisfied obligations such as capital-intensive corporate social responsibilities, and clean-up of some communities ravaged by oil spills.
Senator Bassey expressed concerns that the new company taking over the assets and liabilities of ExxonMobil may not have sufficient capacity to successfully step into the ExxonMobil footprints and/ or muscle the pending obligations hitherto managed by ExxonMobil in the oil-producing states and host communities.
Senator Bassey, therefore, prayed the Senate to get involved in the processes regarding the exit of ExxonMobil in Akwa Ibom State as it cannot be left in the hands of the NNPC and other regulators alone rather, all stakeholders should be involved for the purpose of mapping, profiling, marking up, inventorizing, and analysing what ExxonMobil was doing in the oil-producing states and host communities.
He added that there should be a clear undertaking that whoever takes over ExxonMobil would, in the interest of the state and her people, also take over all or a reasonable volume of those responsibilities previously undertaken by ExxonMobil.
The motion tersely read, “Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 was enacted to provide legal governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the Nigerian Petroleum Industry as well as address the multifarious challenges in the sector which is still the main stay of the country’s economic life;
“The PIA implementation has not yet produced any workable coordination or clearing house by which NNPCL, regulators and oil producing companies, work and coordinate vital petroleum sector changes with significance consequences, with the to-be-impacted host communities, cities and states.”
He further observed that the PIA has not made clear implementation plans for situations such as the now emerging trend of exit of the IOCs and has not holistically resolved issues bothering on protection of interests of the Federal Government, oil producing states, host communities or provided future assurances in handling of situations such as the issue now in focus.”
The Senate, however, ordered its Committee on Petroleum Upstream, Downstream and Gas to investigate the issue and report back to the house.
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