Jonathan finally sends PIB to N’ Assembly

•Allison-Madueke: Authentic copy in ministry’s website ...Why President is yet to sign pending bills –Abati 

 

Photo: 

Sun News Publishing

By: 

JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, Abuja

Date: 

Wed, 07/18/2012

 

The President finally sent the authentic Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to the National Assembly yesterday even as his spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, gave reasons his principal was yet to appear before the House of Representatives over insecurity and other issues. Dr Abati also explained why the President was yet to sign pending bills.

Just this week, a fake PIB appeared in circulation. But in forwarding the authentic bill yesterday, President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the soft copy be released to the public via the Petroleum Ministry website. The Minister, Mrs Deziani Allison-Madueke, disclosed this when she displayed the authentic hard copy while addressing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by the President in Abuja.

She said that what was sent to the National Assembly was the only authentic copy of the bill and that it contained some security features to guard against circulation of fake copies. Allison-Madueke  said that the soft copy version of the document would be available on the ministry’s website from yesterday. According to her, “there is no other Petroleum Industry Bill for 2012. We have seen various adaptations appearing in the media, particularly online, that did not come from the Federal Government of Nigeria and we are unaware of who posted them on these sites.

“There is only one Petroleum Industry Bill 2012 which was released today for the first time to the National Assembly and will therefore, be available on the Ministry of Petroleum Resources’ site by this evening (yesterday) for downloading. “You will notice that inside the bill, there are water-marks including a signing across each page that says the Petroleum Industry Bill for 2012 and the Coat of Arms of the nation and this is the only Petroleum Industry Bill that we have produced.

“Therefore, all other versions or adaptations are not valid and have never been. I will like all Nigerians to please, take note”, she said. Madueke noted that the bill considered the earlier one put before the sixth National Assembly, “but we have had to review it in great details and rework the bill to reflect as much as possible the entire spectrum of what we considered will be the substantial strategic framework for the petroleum industry and the amalgamation of over 16 laws in the oil and gas sector, that will carry this nation in that sector for the years to come.

“This is therefore, the definitive Petroleum Industry Bill and we expect that it will receive due consideration in the National Assembly”. Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Abati, has said controversies and conflicting interests are reasons President Jonathan was yet to sign bills such as the National Health Bill and the Biodiversity Bill. 

Abati, who called in on Fact File, a call-in programme on Raypower 100.5 FM yesterday morning monitored by our correspondent, noted that some of the bills when signed into law, would create additional bureaucracy leading to bloated governance. He said while the National Health Bill threw up a lot of controversies with other stakeholders in the health sector frowning at the fact that only doctors were seen to be qualified,  the Biodiversity Bill approved the use of modern technology for cloning, which some religious groups opposed.

Abati said that both the executive and legislature must reach an understanding on some of these issues on some of those bills and resolutions reached before the bills would be signed into law. According to Abati, “there are indeed pending unsigned bills but these are very few. Those bills are already being discussed both by the executive and the legislature, because there are certain issues arising from the content of those bills. Because there is ongoing dialogue, the legislature has not found itself under any pressure to exercise any veto powers.

“There is some kind of understanding that there are issues that need to be addressed. Some of the issues are these: one, some of those bills will immediately translate into the creation of additional bureaucracy. If additional bureaucracy is created, the governance system would be over-bloated and that itself is contrary to the belief in government that is important to rationalise the system and make it tidy. Even if you create additional bureaucracy, how do you get appropriation for it? You can’t be creating bureaucracy that has not been appropriated for. 

“Another issue the two bodies are discussing also had to do with the fact that some of those bills were passed by the sixth Assembly and the seventh Assembly itself is also still taking a look at some of those bills. Until the seventh Assembly concludes its work on the bills that fall under this category, there is no way they will come to the President to sign. 

“Then, there are a number of bills that are controversial; they have been laid before the President, but there are issues that still need to be resolved. Take for example, the National Health Bill, which threw up a lot of controversies with other stakeholders in the health sector. It is only qualified doctors that are being considered and that they also have a major stake. Take also the Biodiversity Bill. 

There is a section of it that approves the use of modern technology for cloning. Now, some religious groups are saying they don’t support cloning. These are some of the issues being discussed by the executive and the legislature and you can be assured that once they reach an understanding on some of these issues, some of those bills would just be resolved between them. 

“The President is a President of all Nigerians and when other Nigerians raise issues on those bills, what the President needed to do is to reach out to the National Assembly for discussions to take place because the laws are for Nigerians, they are not for the personal use of Mr. President or members of the legislature. So, I don’t see conflict”, he said.

On whether the President would honour the invitation by the House of Representatives to throw more light on the fight against terrorism and other security matters, Abati said, “the President does not have any problem with the invitation by the House of Representatives. But there should be a formal letter inviting him to come and address them on the floor of the House. 

Something will be said on the floor of the Assembly and once the President does not have a formal letter inviting him, the President cannot on the basis of newspapers report say he had been invited. I am very sure that when there is a formal invitation from the National Assembly, the President will honour it. In any case, the National Assembly is dominated by members of the President’s party. 

“In any case, Mr. President often invites members of the parliament to hold meetings with him in the Villa and they honour the invitation. So, when they invite him formally, he will go especially since the issues are of mutual interest for both arms of government and of interest to Nigerians. It is a procedural thing when the lawmakers ask the President to come and address them. 

“You will remember that every year, he addresses them when presenting the Appropriation Bill. Whenever the President goes to an event in the ruling party, he briefs them. When he does Presidential Media Chat, he gives reports to Nigerians. On a daily basis, we report the activities of government online, through newspapers and other possible medium to show that this is a Presidency that is transparent and has nothing to hide. 

His true mandate is to serve Nigerians. It is not that the President is avoiding the legislature; it is not that the President does not want to go to the National Assembly. Both bodies work together,” he note.

 SOURCE: 19 July 2012.