Deliberations on the Petroleum Industry Bill by the National Assembly has been shifted to the first quarter of next year, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has said.

At the sidelines of the Joint Executive-Legislature Leadership Retreat at the Presidential Villa Banquet Hall in Abuja, Sylva told journalists that the National Assembly said they need to work on the 2021 Appropriation Bill.

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This, according to him, was one reason why deliberations on the PIB had to be shifted, adding that the lawmakers explained that the 2021 Appropriation Bill needed to be ready before January next year.

“What the National Assembly has told us in our engagement with them is that the PIB, which is a very important piece of law, is coming at a time when they will be considering the Appropriation Bill,” the minister said.

He added, “And you know that this Appropriation Bill will be passed before the first of January.”

“So, they have to focus on the Appropriation Bill at this time. I think that is going to delay deliberations on the PIB till the first quarter of next year.”

Sylva expressed the belief that the bill would be passed in the first quarter of next year because there was consensus around the passage of the PIB.