lt is manifestly clear that the Bitumen Development Commission Bill (BDCB) which has passed second reading in the Senate is a noble idea whose time has come as the nation cannot have an estimated $38 billion worth ofreserves of bitumen, the second largest in the world, lying wasting and untapped while it continues to spend billions of naira importing bitumen at great cost to the nation’s cash-strapped economy.
The Ministry of Solid Minerals, which has opposed the Bill is infamous for glaring bureaucratic lethargy, inertia and procrastination and is clearly out of its league as far as the exploration, extraction and exploitation of solid minerals is concerned.
The ministry is content to allow a few approved Chinese miners and a lot of illegal miners have a field day at extracting the nation’s abundant mineral resources without proper guidance, regulation or oversight.
There is no coherent operational blueprint to locate and extract the minerals wherever they may be hence many industry stakeholders, the organised private sector and even civil society are vigorously applauding the Bitumen Commission Bill as a stitch in time to salvage the nation’s bitumen reserves from the doldrums. And the main sponsor of the BDCB, the indefatigable corporate mogul, media titan and property/hospitality sector guru, Senator Dr Jimoh Ibrahim (CFR) has affirmed that there is no going back on the Bitumen Commission Bill despite expected opposition from the Ministry of Solid Minerals which has been sitting idly on the vast deposits of bitumen for ages upon ages.
According to the forthright Senator Ibrahim: “The objectives of the Bitumen Development Commission Bill includes the need to develop a legal framework for the regulation of bitumen development in Nigeria; to prevent unconventional sources from taking advantage of research-enhanced application over other competitors; and to lead innovation and research based strategy in the development of bitumen in Nigeria.”
Undoubtedly, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim is in a vantage position to make this bold policy declaration given that Ondo, his home state, has the highest deposits of bitumen in the country with sizeable deposits in Ogun, Edo, Lagos and Akwa lbom States. As the saying goes he who wears the shoe knows where it pinches and the proposed commission will definitely boost and regulate the extraction of bitumen, create jobs for thousands of teeming youths across the nation, increase revenue generation and income for the government, and decisively halt the severe drain on the nation’s foreign reserves caused by ongoing bitumen importation.
The establishment of the Bitumen Commission will definitely not be good news for those presently gaining hugely from the status quo as they will be at a significant disadvantage if bitumen importation is drastically curtailed even halted entirely. So those opposing the creation of the Commission might have other ulterior motives different from those they publicly declare which has conversely rallied many Senators on the side of the Bill thus making it scale the second reading in the Red Chamber. Even in the House of Representatives, there is popular approbation for the Bitumen Bill which many see as an opportunity to be seized with both hands in order to jumpstart rapid socioeconomic and infrastructural development across the country. Some federal lawmakers have gone further to express confidence in the Bitumen Commission Bill’s future given the legendary zeal, dedicated commitment, courage of conviction and purposefulness of focus and direction of the Bills sponsor, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, Chairman Senate Committee on lnter-Parliamentary Affairs who has seen it all in the corporate, industrial, professional, political and public service spheres both nationally and globally.
With the active support of his colleagues and associates in the Senate and House of Representatives, added to his wealth of experience, depth of knowledge and breadth of expertise, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim has the added cleft, heft and clout to see the Bitumen Development Commission Bill passage to it’s logical conclusion by the special Grace of the Almighty God.