PIGB: SENATES SCRAPS NNPC; Establishes 3 New Agencies

Finally, the long awaited Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, PIGB has been passed by the Senate on Thursday.

The Senate considered and passed a much talked about Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) 2017; scrapping state-owned oil company, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).


With the new PIGB, in its place, the Senate is replacing the NNPC with the establishment of three new "agencies" to effectively manage a largely troubled oil and gas sector.

With the passage of the PIGB, the Senate has therefore established the Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NPRC) which shall be headed by a Chairman.

It will also consists of Commissioners whose appointments and removal shall be subject to Senate Approval.

Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) is now under the new commission.

The PIGB also established Nigerian Petroleum Asset Management Company (NPAMC),  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.

Senate President Bukola Saraki describes the passage on Thursday as "historical".

When passed 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 is delighted at what he and others in his committee are able to accomplish so far.

"Today, we have achieved what people believe was unaccomplishable", he told journalists.

Nine months ago, Senate mandated its relevant committee to work on a old copy of the PIB which was divided into different compartments.

It was a "herculean task" for Chairman Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) sector, Kabiru Marafa and others saddled with the responsibility.

His counterpart, Chairman Senate Committee on Gas, Senator Akpan Bassey believes the "Jinx is broken".

He expressed optimism that the bill will create confidence in how the business of oil and gas is done in the country.

"It will create the right signal to international community that Nigeria is ready for business" he said.

The PIGB is a bulky document of 192 pages.