ABUJA – The upper chamber of the National Assembly has passed the conference committee report of the Senate and House of Representatives on the Petroleum Industry Bill, 2021.

The passage followed the approval of the recommendations contained in its conference committee report on a Bill for and Act to Provide Legal, Governance, Regulatory and Fiscal Framework for the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, the Development of Host Communities and for Related Matters, 2021.

The upper chamber adopted three percent (3%) as contribution to the Host Communities Development Fund recommended by the conference committee.

While the Senate passed three percent for host communities in the PIB, the House of Representatives jerked the figure up to five percent in its version.

Some PDP Senators from the South-South such as Seriake Dickson and George Thompson Sekibo, protested the retention of three percent for host communities in the conference committee report.

According to them, their decision to speak against the recommendation of the conference committee was to register their support in a way that promotes nothing but the interest of the region.

Sekibo while coming under an order, intimated the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, and other Senators of his decision to abstain from voting, as doing so he said, “will put my neck on the line.”

The conference committee report was, thereafter, passed after its consideration by the upper chamber.