Buhari Writes National Assembly, Seeks Amendment To PIA

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday asked the Nigerian Senate to amend the recently signed Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

Naija News reports that this was made known in a letter he sent to the National Assembly.

Buhari’s letter was read on the floor of the Senate by its President, Ahmad Lawan, at the commencement of the day’s plenary.

The President is seeking an amendment to the new Act to allow for the removal of the Ministers of Petroleum and Finance from the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

In the letter, the Nigerian leader wants the ministers removed so that they can continue to perform their functions without necessarily being members of the board.

Buhari also wants the amendment to allow the Non-Executive Members to be increased from two to six in the interest of our national petroleum.

Recall that the President had signed the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law recently passed by the National Assembly.

The Senate had passed the bill on July 15, 2021, while the House of Representatives did the same on July 16 but some stakeholders have rejected the content of the bill as passed by the National Assembly.