The Southern Senators caucus on Tuesday met behind closed doors after plenary session.
While the PIB was stifled in the last Senate, on its reintroduction in the life of this Senate, last year, the Bill has been faced with stiff objection from the Northern Senators.
However, we gathered that the meeting was centred around the intrigues surrounding the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and the state creation.
According to a reliable source said, the senators were concerned with the hindrances faced by the PIB, particularly as emerging by their Northern counterparts.
The sources noted that the Southern senators groomed over a way to cajole their northern counterparts and assuage their fears that the Bill seeks to further tighten the scale of federal allocation to their detriment.
The Northern Senators and some governors have moved against a provision in the Bill which seeks to further increase allocation to oil producing states.
The Northern governors had already expressed displeasure at that the huge allocations going to their Southern counterparts as occasioned by the 13 percent derivation and the onshore/offshore dichotomy.
The Northern governors also set up a committee last year to investigate the intent of the Bill.
An attempt by the Majority Leader of the Senate, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, to open debate on the Bill late last year failed as it was opposed by Northern Senators.
On the issue of state creation which is a major part of the constitution review, the Southern Senators are pushing to galvanise support from their counterparts also for more states to be created, the source said.
Recall that the Governor of Kano State, has often kicked against the move to create more states, saying it was not necessary. ###
Pius Dukor
