Minister to drive framework for takeoff of Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, named Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva as the head of the committee to drive the framework for the Implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021, which he signed into law on Monday.
Otherwise, Sylva, is to head the Steering Committee that would drive the implementation process, the President, announced while speaking on the PIA, during a meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly where the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Petroleum Resources; Group Managing Director NNPC; Executive Chairman FIRS; Representative of the Ministry of Justice; Representative of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, were also named.
Others included Senior Special Assistant to the President on Natural Resources, Barrister Olufemi Lijadu as External Legal Adviser, while the Executive Secretary, Petroleum Technology Development Fund, will serve as Head of the Coordinating Secretariat and the Implementation Working Group.
The committee, which has 12 months for the assignment with periodic updates to the President, is entrusted with the primary responsibility guiding the effective and timely implementation of the PIA in the course of transition to the petroleum industry envisaged in the reform program, and ensuring that the new institutions created had the full capability to deliver on their mandate under the new legislation.
A palpably elated Buhari told members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), at a virtual meeting, on Wednesday, that the passage of the PIB into law was the “end of decades of uncertainty and under-investment in the petroleum industry.
“To consolidate the commitment of this administration to delivering the value proposition of this law, I have approved an implementation framework commencing immediately to ensure the industry envisaged in the new law begins to take shape.
“The implementation process to be headed by the Hon Minister of State, Petroleum Resources is hereby tasked with the completion of the implementation of this act within 12 months. I am therefore directing all relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government to fully cooperate in ensuring the successful and timely implementation of this law.
“Let me now commend the leadership of the 9th Assembly for their continued pursuit of our national aspiration and demonstration of mutual harmony with the Executive in the pursuit of a patriotic outcome in the passage of the PI
