ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s senate will vote on Thursday to reconcile different versions of a petroleum sector reform bill passed by parliament’s two chambers, a copy of the order paper seen by Reuters showed.
Each passed the bill this month, but approved different amendments, which required harmonisation between lawmakers from the two chambers.
While the order paper was not yet available in the house, both chambers were expected to vote as soon as it arrives.
Further amendments are barred and legislators can only vote yes or no. Approval by both would send the package to President Muhammadu Buhari to sign into law.
In the works for two decades, industry experts say passage is now crucial to attract a shrinking pool of investment dollars into Nigeria’s petroleum sector as companies cut spending on fossil fuel development.
The last major points of disagreement in the legislation centred on who is allowed to import fuel, the amount of money to be channelled to the communities where petroleum is produced and what amount of money should be directed to developing “frontier” fields, which are mostly located in northern Nigeria.
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh, writing by Libby George; editing by Jason Neely)
