The Gbajabiamila led 9th House of Representatives has taken a landmark step by passing the Petroleum Industry Bill after a 20-year delay.
The House members unanimously passed the 319 clauses of the report of the bill to make history.
Reacting to the development, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, described it as a "landmark achievement."
The speaker commended the 74 members of the PIB committee and the entire House for a job well done.
He spoke further, "This bill is about our economy and it beholds on us members of 9th House so that our names will be written in gold."
Giving a synopsis of the report earlier, the Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee on PIB, Rep. Mohammed Monguno, recalled how the bill suffered "several postponements at the National Assembly."
Monguno gave the highlights of the PIB, one of which is the provision of a Governance Structure for the petroleum and gas industry in Nigeria.
He explained that this would mean the unbundling of the NNPC to
"Metamorphose to NNPC Limited to be run as a commercial entity."
Monguno also said the bill created a Commission to oversee the operation of the industry by ensuring transparency of all transactions.
He added that another provision of the bill is the creation of a Host Community Fund to take care of the interests of oil-bearing communities.
A frontier exploration agency is also established in the PIB to continue with oil exploration activities in other parts of the country.