The Senate on Thursday passed a part of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

One of the highlights of the bill was scrapping the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the merging of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum Products Pricing, Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) into one agency.

The bill stated that the National Petroleum Company (NPC) and Nigerian Petroleum Assets Management Company (NPAMC) are to replace the NNPC.

[Read Also: SENATE FINALLY PASSES PETROLEUM INDUSTRY BILL]

According to the bill, the NPC and the NPAMC will be under the supervision of a newly created Petroleum Regulatory Commission (PRC).

The PRC “shall be the Industry Regulator and Watchdog, responsible for licensing, monitoring, supervision of petroleum operations, enforcing laws, regulations and standards across the value chain”, the bill added

The bill also gives the regulatory commission 10% cost of collection of revenues from other commercial agencies.

”The Commission shall establish and maintain a fund (‘the Fund’) from which all expenditures incurred by the Commission shall be defrayed. The NPRC is also empowered by the bill to spend ten percent of what it generates for its operations”, the provision added.

Azeez