A week before the latest deadline to pass Nigeria’s long-awaited oil overhaul bill, demands for big changes, including from community leaders seeking an increased share of revenues, could push its passage into late this year, four sources told Reuters.
The last-minute wrangling over the package – which aims to modernise Nigeria’s petroleum industry and attract a shrinking pool of global fossil fuel investment dollars – has disappointed those who hoped the political alignment of the presidency and the National Assembly would break the cycle of failure that has stalked overhaul efforts for 20 years.
Among the changes are proposals to publicly sell shares in state oil company National Nigerian Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and implement market-based prices for gas to power.
At acrimonious meetings in the nation’s capital, Abuja, this week, community leaders revived demands to increase their share of petroleum produced in their regions to 10% – up from 2.5 per cent.
Communities with oil exploration in northern Nigeria’s Lake Chad region and the middle of the country are also seeking a greater share of oil revenues.
The National Assembly goes on recess in early July, so if the package is not approved within the next two weeks, it cannot become law until September.
Lagos-based consultancy Financial Derivatives Company Limited said the failure to pass an oil overhaul has cost some $15 billion annually in lost investment.
“With the global shift from fossil fuels to renewable forms of energy picking up pace, the passage of the (overhaul) may just be too little too late,” FDC wrote. “It is unlikely that Nigeria will be able to make up for either the lost time or the lost investment.”
