Following the condemnation that trailed the ceding of three percent to host communities in the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, Senate Committee Chairman on Public Accounts, Matthew Urhoghide, has said an amendment to the Act would be carried out by the Senate once it resumes from its recess.
Urhoghide disclosed this in Benin City, Edo State, while fielding questions from members of the Correspondents Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ.
He said: “When we get back, the PIA is going to probably get the first attention of amendment. Any law, no matter how new it is, once it is signed into law, somebody can call for the amendment of the PIA when we resume. It will go through first and second reading, then to committee for further legislative action and public hearing. And if it succeeds, it goes through third hearing and once it is passed, it goes to the President for the amendment of the PIA.
“So, we are expecting that because of the hues and cry of the Niger Deltans, the President will probably send it back to the National Assembly and it will go by way of substantive motion back on the floor to say that bill that was passed into law needs amendment and we can now reopen it. The president has already signed it and can only come by way of an amendment to the act.”
He said although the bill had been signed into law by the President, there was still a lot of optimism, especially about the contribution in terms of amount of money that the oil companies would bring to the host communities.
He said: “We didn’t have it before. Now that we have it, how do we administer the money? Is it not going to go through state governments anymore? Will there will be interference and that is why in the constitution of the Host Community Trust Fund Committee, who and who will be there because the investors will oversee it? There will be need for assessment for everything that will be done with the money. Certainly, we want the money for the communities.”
Electoral Act amendment
On the amendment of the Electoral Act, he said: “For an amendment to the Electoral Act, the area that was contentious was the electronic transmission of results from the polling units to the collation centres.
“People can truly express their wish through the ballot at the polling unit but the point between the polling units and the collation is where the problem lies. It is either the Electoral Officers introduce new result sheets on the way or they change figures.
“So, we said it should be transmitted electronically from the unit to the server even if you have to do physical collation, the results will be there. But what has played out was party politics, we will not want this transmission and they asked Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC, to guarantee it that there is network coverage for it to be transmitted and we rejected that position.
“Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has already said they have the capacity and they don’t need to go to NCC. Section 78 of the Electoral Act is very clear that INEC is independent and doesn’t take instructions from the National Assembly neither will it take instructions from the NCC.
“So, what they were trying to do was to bring Patami in (minister) because he is an unrepentant party man, who is ready to do anything against the interest of other Nigerians as long as they are satisfying the whims and caprices of the president and the All Progressives Congress, APC.”
Insecurity
On state of insecurity, Urhoghide said: “The security situation in Nigeria is bad, whether the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP or APC, man or woman, North or South. There may be a preponderance of more in the north because of banditry and others, the same thing is happening in the south.
“Our women are being raped, farms are being destroyed. Now, the security being an essential components to determine good governance because section 14(2) (b)(c) of our constitution is very clear that the primary purpose of any government is the security of lives and property.”
“I have sworn in the second schedule that I will uphold, as a member of the Nigerian senate, provisions of our constitution. So, if I come to section 14(2), the primary purpose of any government is that the National Assembly or legislature is an arm of government and because we have sworn to oath to uphold the provisions of the constitution, I will never compromise anything that has to do with the security of lives of the people.
“So, if the executive is charged with responsibility of eliciting and ensuring that, I should be able to talk to the executive that he is not doing his job well. That has been argument in the Senate, I don’t want to know the sentiments whether APC or the president. If he is doing his job, I will stand and praise him, but if he is not doing it, I will tell him to his face that he isn’t doing it.”
Vanguard News Nigeria
