Hope that the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) will become law soon was rekindled on January 19, when the Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, inaugurated a special task force to review the various versions of the bill submitted to the sixth National Assembly and produce a new one within 30 days for presentation to the National Assembly. Chika Amanze-Nwachuku writes that the task force can only meet this target, if those very fundamental issues raised by stakeholders were amicably resolved within the stipulated time
In a nationwide broadcast on January 16, President Goodluck Jonathan had pledged to give the PIB accelerated attention. The President had promised to re-present the bill to the National Assembly in the first quarter of 2012 and expressed optimism that, when re-introduced to the floors of the National Assembly, the PIB would be given speedy passage.
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