The Senate has constituted a conference committee to harmonise the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, which was passed last week.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan announced the composition of the committee at the commencement of the plenary on Tuesday.
PIB, among other things, provides that three per cent of the operating expenditure of oil companies (OPEX), estimated at $500 million annually, to be directed to the development of host communities.
In the House of Representatives, the equity share was pegged at five per cent.
The committee is mandated to harmonise the discrepancies in the bill before sending it to the Presidency for assent.
The panel is chaired by Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, Senate Leader.
Other committee members are Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (South West), Bassey Akpan (South-South), Stella Oduah (South East), Gabriel Suswam (North Central), Danjuma Goje (North East) and Mohammed Sabo Nakudu (North West).
Lawan charged members of the conference committee to meet with their counterparts in the House of Representatives to enable the National Assembly to come up with a final document on the PIB for transmission to the Executive arm of government.
He said: “The conference committee will meet with our counterparts in the House, the House will also announce the composition of the conference committee, and we hope that they will swing into action immediately so that we are able to have the final document of the PIB which we will transmit for the presidential assent.
“So, we expect our delegation here under the leadership of the Senate Leader to engage with our colleagues in the House of Representatives.”
