The Senate will begin its annual eight-week vacation from Friday.

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, who made the announcement during Thursday’s plenary, said the senators would resume legislative activities on September 15.

He, however, said the various senate committees would work during the vacation.

Lawan urged the relevant committees on Petroleum (Upstream and Downstream) and Gas to engage the Executive arm of government, particularly the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on the Petroleum Industry Bill to be submitted to the National Assembly.

He said:

“I urge that our oil and gas committees continue to engage with the Executive arm of government, particularly the NNPC, DPR, and all the petroleum related agencies and work with them as if the bill has been presented to us, so that we reduce the time that we need to spend considering the bill when it is finally presented to us.

“It is our hope and desire that we are able to break the jinx that has visited the PIB since 2007.

“The PIB has defied passage and assent, this time around we want to work assiduously with the Executive arm of government to ensure that we pass the PIB and that the president signs it into law, because we have everything to lose if it was not passed this year.

“If we are able to do it, we will get more revenue into the coffers of the Federal Government, as well as attract and retain investments into the oil and gas sector in Nigeria.”