Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai on Thursday said in order to entrench transparency in the oil industry, the discretionary powers of the president to award oil blocs should be curtailed.
He said Nigerians should be given the opportunity to freely bid for available oil blocs instead of arbitrary award to select individuals by the president..
“Today, Nigeria has a track record of attracting billion dollars in fees from frequency spectrum.
El-Rufai spoke at the final public hearing on the Petroleum Industry Bill ( PIB) organised by the House of Representatives ad hoc committee in Abuja.
He said that there should be a government framework that encourages independence of the regulators in the sector
The former minster insisted that regulators should not be made to report to the minister of petroleum.
“I think that as you are doing this legislation we must have independent regulators. Independent regulators mean that they don’t report to the minister,”he said.
He suggested that the joint ventures should be incorporated and put on the stock exchange so that Nigerians can buy shares in it.
On the petroleum host communities’ fund, the former minister applauded the initiative, saying it was assailable but called for a governance framework.
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mrs Zainab Ahmed in her own contributionnsaid that in order to ensure transparency in the industry, the PIB should provide for an allocation process that is clear and transparent, and open to the general public.
She maintained that there should be a clear description of the process for transferring or awarding oil licence.
The NEITI boss advised that the PIB should provide for the creation of a publicly available register of the corporate entities that bid for, operate or invest in petroleum upstream assets.
She called for the creation of a register of licenses that will be open to the public, containing comprehensive information about the licenses and the license holder.
Zainab also suggested that there should be provision that allow for cash-call payments for Joint ventures (JVs) as a first line charge on the Federation Account.
“This means that the federal governments share of the expenses for JV operation will be paid based on agreed work-plan and budgets directly from the Federation Account, prior to other disbursements from the said account,”he said.
