The National Assembly on Wednesday passed the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) with 5% levy on fuel sold across the country.
The levy will be used to finance the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) as established under the new bill. Other sources of financing the PEF, as stated in the bill, include subventions, fees and charges for services rendered as well as net surplus revenue recovered from petroleum products marketing companies
The passage of the bill came on after consideration and adoption of the conference committee report on the bill.
The bill establishes the Nigeria Petroleum Regulatory Agency and empowers it to take over the functions performed by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum Inspectorate and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) .
PIGB will also unbundle the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), establish the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Incorporated, Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Nigerian Petroleum Assets Management Company and National Petroleum Company and Petroleum Equalisation Fund.
The bill empowers the commission to collect all revenues and levies charged, monitor and enforce compliance with the terms and conditions of all leases, licenses and authorizations issued on any petroleum operations. It will also determine the net surplus revenue recoverable from any oil marketing company and accruing to that company from the sale by it of petroleum products at uniform prices as may be fixed by the minister, and determine the amount of reimbursement due to any oil marketing company for purposes of equalisation of price of products. It will also regulate and enforce health and safety measures relating to petroleum operations among others.
