Senate ignores minister’s concerns, passes bill to create Bitumen Commission

The Senate on Wednesday passed a bill seeking to establish the Bitumen Development Commission, a regulatory body proposed to oversee the exploration, exploitation, and production of bitumen resources across the country.

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The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the passage of the bill after most senators had supported it through voice votes.

The bill was considered and approved at the Committee of the Whole.

Jimoh Ibrahim (APC, Ondo South) sponsored the bill.

The upper chamber passed the bill after considering a report of its Committee on Solid Minerals presented by Diket Plang, the senator representing Plateau Central Senatorial District.

The passage was against the federal government’s recommendations at a public hearing organised on the bill in July 2024.

During the hearing, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, said creating a commission to regulate a single mineral resource could set a challenging precedent, leading other regions to demand similar commissions for their local minerals.

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The minister, represented by Emma Oganiru, argued during the hearing that the bill was unnecessary, inconsistent with global best practices, and would increase the cost of governance.

“Establishing a commission solely for bitumen, out of over 44 mineral types, does not align with global best practices. It would increase the financial burden on the cost of governance, which is already overly bloated,” the minister said during the public hearing.

The report

While presenting the report, Mr Palang, a member of the solid minerals committee, said the proposed commission is necessary given Nigeria’s vast untapped bitumen reserves, estimated at 42 billion tonnes and reportedly the second-largest deposit in the world.

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He noted that despite the abundance of solid minerals across the country, there remains a lack of structured legal and institutional frameworks for effective regulation.

The senator, therefore, recommended that the bill be passed.

Support from lawmakers

Benson Konbowei (PDP, Bayelsa Central) seconded the motion for the bill’s passage, while the Senate Chief Whip, Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno North), described the bill as a strategic step in line with the federal government’s goal of diversifying the economy away from oil dependency

With the passage, the bill will now be transmitted to the House of Representatives for concurrence. If passed by the lower chamber and signed by the President, the Bitumen Development Commission would become one of the few mineral-specific regulatory agencies in Nigeria, joining the likes of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) in resource-specific oversight.