The Senate has said that it would with immediate effect hasten the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which had been before the National Assembly for a little over five years, just as it said it was set to probe the $1.092 billion Malabu deal.
The decision of the Senate to probe the alleged sale of an oil block, OPL 245 to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited at $1.092billion (about N178.812 billion) by the federal government, was reached following a point of order raised by Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi.
He informed the upper chamber that the Italian and Netherlands governments and the EU parliaments were on the verge of wrapping up public investigations soon to be made public.
He said: “The issue of Malabu oil was also raised at that gathering. Upon coming back, I had to check my proceedings and l found that PIB after debate was committed to the appropriate committee in this chamber on March 7, 2013. It will be exactly one year next month. Up till now, there seems to be nothing going on. The Malabu oil was committed to a committee in this Senate in July.
“It will interest this Senate that an international extractive advocacy group in Europe did a letter dated July 5, 2013 to Italian and Netherlands governments requesting for public investigation of the roles of companies from their countries and to the European Union (EU).
“As l speak, the Italian and Netherlands governments and the EU parliaments are about concluding public investigations that would be made public very soon. I feel as a senator, we should know what is going on so that the reputation of this parliament as an institution is not called to question.”
