PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has assured the international community that he expects the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), now under consideration by the National Assembly, to be passed into law before the end of the current parliament in May.

Speaking in Ankara, Turkey, at a joint press conference with President Abdullah Gul of Turkey, he said the passage of the bill would give fresh impetus to the efforts to further liberalise Nigeria’s oil sector.

He said that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Allison-Ma-dueke, would hold further talks with her Turkish counterpart on the expansion of bilateral cooperation between Nigeria and Turkey in the oil and gas sector.