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Nigeria: Why I Withdrew Excess Crude Bill -Iyabo Obasanjo
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This Day (Lagos)
COLUMN
24 June 2008
Posted to the web 24 June 2008
Lagos
Senate Committee Chairman on Health, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, yesterday explained why she withdrew the excess crude bill, saying the Bill would ensure proper use of the country's oil resources.
Obasanjo-Bello said she withdrew the bill to give room for more consultation and consolidation of a similar bill.
"The Constitution is not the problem. I need more consultation and if possible, to consolidate the bill with the similar one by Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw. These bills are similar and tend to address the same issue that is of importance to the country," she said.
Obasanjo-Bello had moved for the second reading of the bill at the Senate plenary session on June 19 and shortly after, withdrew it.
Senator Ikechukwu Obiora (PDP -Anambra), who also opposed passage of the bill, had said it violated the provision of the 1999 Constitution.
"What the bill seeks to achieve is to have a reserved fund, because earnings from oil is not a stable income," Obasanjo-Bello told NAN.
She said the excess crude oil fund should be channelled into special projects that would fast-track development of the nation's infrastructure.
"The bill seeks to provide for deployment of 15 per cent Excess Crude Oil Fund from the Federation Account for investment in stocks and bonds for long term interest.
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"It is also aimed at providing infrastructural development and health-care delivery and improve Nigerians standard of living," she said.
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