PIB: ‘Nigeria may lose membership of metrology body’

The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), when signed into law, will remove Nigeria from the International Organisation of Legal Metrology (OIML), which is an international platform of regulating, weighing and measuring in every sector of the national economy.

This was revealed by the Chairman/CEO of Nigerco Industries Nigeria Limited, Eng. Yabagi Yusuf Sani, during a forum of Legal Metrology Experts over the weekend in Abuja.

Eng. Sani said the PIB eroded the weights and measures functions of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and conferred the same on the proposed Nigeria Petroleum Commission in the same bill in contravention of the constitution, other laws and international best practices.

He said the Bill intends to take over the following functions of its Weights and Measures department: verification, fiscalization, calibration and certification of all measuring instruments used in the petroleum industry.

In addition, the Bill seeks to take over the function of quantity determination of petroleum and gas products for trade purposes and issuance of pattern of approval certification for measuring instruments used in the petroleum industry.

“The existing Department of Weights and Measures is Nigeria’s representative in the OIML. The PIB is aiming to assault, in fact, out rightly remove Nigeria from being a member of this international platform,” he said.

He said the creation of the NPRC in part two paragraph four gives the commission excessive, exclusive power that is contrary to global best practices and the spirit of fairness, transparency and accountability that the PIB is expected to enthrone.

He said some provisions of the PIB contravened the provisions of the item 65 Exclusive List, Second Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; the Weights and Measures Act 2004 and the Pre-shipment Inspection for Export Act CAP p25 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.