A bill seeking the creation of the Bitumen Development Commission passed its first reading at the Senate on Thursday.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Jimoh Ibrahim (All Progressives Congress, Ondo South), seeks official regulation of bitumen exploration, development and exportation.
Ibrahim said that the move would aid the government’s efforts to diversify the economy, noting that bitumen could be an alternative revenue earner for Nigeria, since the country has the second largest bitumen deposit in the world, behind Canada.
The proposed commission, as projected in the draft bill, would be sited in any of the three towns with high deposits of bitumen in Ondo State, which are Ode-Irele, Agbabu and Igbotako.
As proposed in the bill, the Bitumen Development Commission, when established, would also facilitate the execution of road infrastructure across the country and also create jobs for Nigerians, particularly geologists, whose expertise would be needed in its exploration.
After plenary, Ibrahim told the media: “If the proposed legislation scales through in both the Senate and the House of Representatives with the attendant establishment of Bitumen Development Commission after presidential assent, it would be the first law on exploration, development and possibly exportation of bitumen in Nigeria”.
