In order to reform the country’s oil industry, President Umaru Yar’Adua has moved to close down the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The establishment is due to pack up at the end of the month once the senate give their consents.
The special adviser to the presidency on Petroleum Matters, Emmanuel Egbogah said that, abolishing the NNPC was a necessary step because an act establishing NNPC must be revoked before a new one can take effect and it was in this vane they were closing down the corporation.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has already permitted the reform and the Presidency was waiting for the Senate to pass the Oil Industry Bill before it. ‘Now that FEC has approved the reform, what is being awaited is for the Senate to give assent to it, and meanwhile, the President is waiting to have a proper discussion with the Senate so as to accelerate the process of approving the new Oil Industry Bill.’ ‘We hope that, the Bill can be passed within two weeks,’ he added.
Earlier this week, President Yar’Adua said he was not going back on his decision to explore the country’s vast gas reserves, which according to a United States Geological Survey estimated to be as high as 600 trillion cubic feet.
Former Nigerian president General Olusegun Obasanjo had signed Decree 33, the statute establishing the NNPC on April 21, 1977, as Head of State.
