The 36 states set up six-member panel Petroleum Industry Act loopholes, plan amendments

24 Aug The 36 states set up six-member panel Petroleum Industry Act loopholes, plan amendments

The 36 states of the federation have set up a six-man committee on the Petroleum Industry Act with a mandate to study and draw up amendments to the law.

The Chairman of Forum of Commissioners of Finance and Benue State Commissioner for Finance, David Olofu, said yesterday that the forum would submit proposed amendments to the Act to the steering committee on the PIA set up by the President Muhammadu Buhari

The NGF Chairman and Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, had in an interview last Thursday expressed concern over 30 per cent allocation for frontier exploration and the three per cent for the host communities in the PIA.

He said both provisions, if implemented, would deplete the Federation Account, adding, “We worry more about the entire federation and not about selected parts of the federation. For us as governors, that is a distinction without a difference. We are talking about depletion of the Federation Account, whether it is three per cent or 30 per cent.” he explained.

Olofu said that a six-man committee headed by the Delta State Commissioner for Finance, Fidelis Tilije, was set up by the forum of finance commissioners, which met after the FAAC meeting on Friday.