The Federal Government has disclosed reason the National Assembly shifted deliberation of Petroleum Industry Bill to 2021.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva told journalists that why deliberations on the PIB had to be shifted, was because the lawmakers said the 2021 Appropriation Bill needed to be ready before January next year.
At the sidelines of the Joint Executive-Legislature Leadership Retreat at the Presidential Villa Banquet Hall in Abuja, Sylva told journalists that the National Assembly said they need to work on the 2021 Appropriation Bill.
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Sylva said: “What the National Assembly has told us in our engagement with them is that the PIB, which is a very important piece of law, is coming at a time when they will be considering the Appropriation Bill.
“And you know that this Appropriation Bill will be passed before the first of January.
“So, they have to focus on the Appropriation Bill at this time. I think that is going to delay deliberations on the PIB till the first quarter of next year.”
Sylva expressed the belief that the bill would be passed in the first quarter of next year because there was consensus around the passage of the PIB.