The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has welcomed the passage of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract Amendment Bill by the National Assembly.
In a statement in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of NEITI Waziri Adio described the amendment as long overdue and commended the 9th National Assembly and the Presidency for breaking the jinx with the prompt action taken to amend the law at record time.
Adio noted with satisfaction that the development was quite consistent with NEITI’s agitation for urgent amendment of the law to forestall further revenue losses to the federation. The NEITI Executive Secretary expressed confidence that with the amendment, the revenue generation for the federation in the PSC arrangement in the oil and gas industry will witness significant improvement.
He recalled that in March 2019, NEITI published a policy brief titled “the 1993 PSCs: the steep cost of inaction,” which revealed that Nigeria lost between $16.0bn and $28.61bn within ten years for failure to review the terms of PSC agreement in 2008 as was required by the law governing the PSCs.
According to NEITI, the two triggers for reviewing the Act were met in 2004 when price of oil crossed $20 per barrel and in January 2008 after 15 years that the 1993 PSCs.
