The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo, has inaugurated a technical committee to review the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (PIA) and its implications on the statutory responsibilities of his ministry.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by the minister’s Special Adviser on Media, Ifedayo Sayo on Monday in a statement titled ‘Ministry Inaugurates technical committee on Petroleum Act.’
According to the statement, the minister inaugurated a technical committee to carry out a review of the PIA and its implications on the statutory responsibilities of the ministry.
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The statement noted that the committee headed by the ministry’s Director, Legal Services, Muhammed Alhassan, would, among other things:
“Review the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 and its implication on the Oil and Gas Export Permit being issued to exporters by Committee for Economic Development;
“Review the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 in relation to the Weights and Measures ACT, and its implication on the Department;
“Highlight the implication of the ACT on the roles of CED and Weights and Measures Departments under the Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme.”
It is also expected of the committee to suggest appropriate strategies to be used in bringing the NESS scheme to the ministry, and as well suggest ways to remedy the infractions on the responsibilities of the ministry, if any; and prepare relevant letters to the Office of the President and the National Assembly.
The minister stated that the review became necessary as the Act tampered significantly with some of the statutory roles of the ministry.
He stressed the need for the ministry to leverage on the window provided by the review of the Act to enable it play a more significant role under the scheme in line with its mandate.
“As a ministry, some of our roles as they relate to the administration of the pre-shipment inspection and the Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme had hitherto been under the Ministry of Finance and are now under the new commission under the Petroleum Industry Act,” he added.
The committee was given two weeks to submit its report.
