Ike Amos
28 February 2019, Sweetcrude, Abuja — The International Board of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, EITI, Wednesday, ranked Nigeria as having made ‘Satisfactory Progress’ in entrenching transparency in the country’s extractive sector through the implementing of EITI principles.
In a statement issued after the 42nd meeting of the EITI Board in Kiev, Ukraine, the global body disclosed that with this ranking, the second highest in the implementation of EITI principles, Nigeria became the first Anglophone African country to have made satisfactory progress in implementing all the requirements of the EITI Standard.
However, EITI noted that Nigeria now faces the challenge of entrenching this transparency in routine government and company systems.
Chair of the EITI Board, Mr. Fredrik Reinfeldt said, “Nigeria’s implementation of the EITI Standard remains in many respects a model for implementing countries globally.
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“Apart from its scope, NEITI reports have shaped major reforms initiated in the sector, including those by the national oil company, NNPC. We hope the government will continue to use the NEITI process to inform its policies for better governance.”
The EITI disclosed that over 15 years of implementing the EITI, the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI, had become an independent watchdog that holds stakeholders in the crucial hydrocarbons – and more recently solid minerals – sector to account.
It affirmed that since 2017, NEITI has disclosed key data on its allocation of licenses, on the administration of oil and gas subnational transfers and on crude sales and other processes within the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
“Standalone EITI reporting will always face challenges of efficiency and sustainability. The building blocks for systematic disclosures of EITI data from the extractives sector already exist within some government systems in Nigeria. Embedding routine online disclosure of extractives data in government and company systems will free up NEITI’s time to focus more on analyzing the data and developing policy proposals. It has already started doing so through its series of NEITI Policy Briefs,” the EITI noted.
Commenting on the ranking, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, and an EITI Board member Mrs. Zainab Ahmed said, “The NEITI reports form the basis for reforms in the oil, gas and mining industry, as was laid out in President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2015 political campaign manifesto.
“Inspired by the EITI, the Nigerian government now conducts monthly routine reconciliations for all sectors, not just the extractives, which has increased government revenues.”
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Also commenting, Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mr. Waziri Adio, said, “Through NEITI’s reports and interventions, Nigerians now know more about the operations of the sector, which despite low commodity prices, still remains the backbone of their economy. Citizens, civic groups and the media are now better armed with information to ask probing questions and make informed contributions to governance.
“Over time, various governments have used information from NEITI’s reports to recover almost $3 billion that would have ended up unpaid. NEITI’s recommendations are driving the ongoing reforms in our oil and gas and mining sectors.”
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