PIB: The Perambulation Continues- Nigerian Misguided Optimism
By Uche Igwe I was invited to a roundtable on the Nigerian Petroleum Industry Bill organised by the Africa Studies Department of the Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC on the 3 rd of November 2010. During the panel discussion, I alerted the audience that what the Nigerian government intended to do (at that time) was simply a Petroleum Industry Perambulation (PIP). I explained that the government wanted to take unsuspecting citizens through a deceptive, torturing, time consuming and money guzzling journey in the name of reforms. The journey, I warned, would begin from point A and after many months (even years) of rigmarole, travellers will find themselves back at point A where they started. Almost two years has passed since I made that speech and sadly I still find no reason whatsoever to review my position. My view still remains that contrary to sponsored rhetoric, the Nigerian government has no intention of reforming the oil and gas industry. The recent submissionof...