The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has reaffirmed its dedication to delivering real-time, automated, and centralised data across the nation’s extractive industries.
At the 2025 National Extractives Dialogue held in Uyo on Wednesday, Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, disclosed that the agency had already established a data centre aimed at digitising and centralising extractive sector information.
Speaking at the event themed “Transition, Divestment and Critical Minerals: Charting a Just Future for Nigeria’s Extractive Sector”, Dr Orji stated that the centre would soon become fully operational.
“When up and running, the data centre will consolidate licensing, production, revenue, and export data spanning oil, gas, and solid minerals,” he said. “It will strengthen transparency and accountability in the industry, while supporting automated company disclosures in line with NEITI’s framework.”
He described the initiative as a reflection of NEITI’s resolve to pursue intelligent, accessible, and actionable transparency in an increasingly data-centric world.
Dr Orji also called for a coordinated national response to the challenges and opportunities presented by the global transition to clean energy, asset divestments, and rising demand for critical minerals.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Solid Minerals, Mr Gaza Gbefwi, underscored the urgency of policy interventions to harness Nigeria’s rich deposits of critical minerals required for the ongoing global clean energy transition.
Gbefwi referenced a report by the International Energy Agency projecting that demand for minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and rare earth elements would quadruple by 2040.
“The worldwide shift to clean energy has intensified competition for these critical inputs,” he said. “They are essential components in electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines, and battery storage systems.”
Also speaking, the Director General of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Mr Chukwuemeka Woke, observed that Nigeria’s extractive industry is at a crucial juncture as the global energy sector moves towards low-carbon alternatives.
Represented by Mrs Margaret Adesida, NOSDRA’s Director of ICT/GIS, Woke noted that several divestment transactions involving international oil majors have either been initiated or concluded.
Earlier, Director of Spaces for Change, Mrs Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, said Nigeria must approach the energy transition with informed decision-making, focusing on regulatory frameworks, environmental responsibility, and protection of local communities.
