The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo, has inaugurated a technical committee to review the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 and its implications on the statutory responsibilities of his ministry.

This was disclosed in a statement issued on Monday by the minister’s Special Adviser on Media, Ifedayo Sayo.

The statement was titled, “Ministry inaugurates technical committee on Petroleum Act.”

It read in part, “Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, on Monday inaugurated a technical committee to carry out a review of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 and its implications on the statutory responsibilities of the ministry.”

It noted that the committee headed by the ministry’s Director, Legal Services, Muhammed Alhassan, will among other things,

“Review the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 and its implication on the Oil and Gas Export Permit being issued to exporters by Committee For Economic Development;

“Review the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 in relation to the Weights and Measures ACT, and its implication on the Department;

“Highlight the implication of the ACT on the roles of CED and Weights and Measures Departments under the Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme,” it said.

The committee is also saddled with the responsibility of suggesting appropriate strategy to use in bringing the NESS scheme to The Ministry since the scheme is about exports, which is a core mandate of the Ministry.

It is also expected to suggest ways to remedy the infractions on the responsibilities of the Ministry, if any; and prepare relevant letters to the Office of the President and the National Assembly.

The review became necessary as the Act tampered significantly with some of the statutory roles of the ministry, the Minister stated.

“As a Ministry, some of our roles as they relate to the administration of the Pre-shipment inspection and the Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme had hitherto been under the Ministry of Finance, and are now under the new commission under the Petroleum Industry Act,” he added.

He stressed the need by the ministry to leverage the window provided by the review of the Act to enable it to play a more significant role under the scheme in line with its mandate.

“Therefore, your technical committee is expected to take a professional look at the document, come up with strategies that will help redress the identified issues.

There is a sense of urgency in the execution of your assignment so that we can seek the amendment of the infractions on the statutory functions of the Ministry, especially through a request to relevant institutions of government.

“It is important to state that your assignment is critical to the continuity of some of our roles as a Ministry.

“I am confident in the quality of members chosen to undertake this assignment, therefore I task you all to make far-reaching recommendations that will help sustain and stabilize our operations,” he said.

The committee which comprises directors in the ministry was given two weeks to submit its report.

(The PUNCH)

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