NEITI to publish 2022-2023 reports September — Executive Secretary
By Matthew Denis
The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji has disclosed that the agency is prepared to publish the 2022-2023 reports by September, 2024.
He made the disclosure during the inauguration of the Inter-ministerial Tasks Team (IMTT) held in Abuja on Monday.
The Executive Secretary said, “I feel most honoured and fulfilled today at the opportunity to inaugurate and re-invigorate the Inter-Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) of NEITI.
“The IMTT as it is popularly known is a very important aspect of the EITI process in Nigeria, being a decision made by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) after the release of the first NEITI oil and gas report that covered years 1999-2004.
“The essence of this task team is to study very carefully each NEITI industry report of the Oil, Gas and Solid minerals sectors as well as the Fiscal Allocation and Statutory Disbursement (FASD) report, map out the key findings and recommendations in these reports and identify the agencies that are responsible, to carry out the remedial actions as recommended by the Independent Administrators.”
The NEITI Boss stressed that the National Stakeholders Working Group (NSWG) also known as the Board of NEITI has expanded the Inter-Ministerial Task Team -IMTT to serve as the forum for both remediation and government engagements. The IMTT is to be chaired by the office of the SGF.
He said, “Let me use this opportunity to announce that today we have a NEITI National Stakeholders Working Group in place, it was inaugurated last week by the President with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation as the Chairman.
“The IMTT is also expected to map out strategies that will track and report on the progress made towards the implementation of the findings and recommendations in the NEITI reports.”
The CEO posited that “The objective is to ensure that NEITI does not just publish reports that gather dust on the shelves of the agency, but that the findings of these reports help to deepen government oversight and reform of the oil, gas and mining sectors for productivity, transparency and accountability in a manner that provides the greatest good for the greatest number of Nigerians who are the ultimate beneficiaries of the natural resources endowed in the country.
“Your assemblage today is a reunion from what we established in the past. NEITI has envisaged that the reforms that are taking place in Nigeria’s extractive sector especially, the implementation of the Solid Minerals Roadmap and the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) would have taken over the work of the IMTT, but recent developments have clearly shown that the IMTT has come to stay and remains relevant due to its unique composition and responsibility.”
He noted that “The last EITI validation and the recent international mission conducted by the EITI in Nigeria, equally identified the need for the IMTT and reinforced NEITI’s position that the task team should be invigorated and strengthened to help oversee the implementation of NEITI reports recommendations.”
Dr. Orji emphasised that NEITI is “therefore convinced that the IMTT framework is better positioned to meet the challenges identified in the governance framework that has been put in place for the extractive sector.”
“NEITI is also of the view that the achievements and impacts it has recorded in the sector will be tracked and documented under the framework of the IMTT. This is against the background that the IMTT structure will support in tracking and measurement of where we are, where we should be and how we could get there.”
According to him, “The progress and traction we gain in implementing these recommendations is expected to feed into key government policies, goals and impact in the ongoing reforms under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration and the 2023 EITI Standard.
“NEITI has also since commenced the conduct of its 2022/2023 industry reports of the Oil, Gas and Solid Minerals sector. Our scope of coverage is very wide and the outcome of this very important industry report covering companies doing business in both sectors will be very insightful for the government, the legislature, the civil society and the international development partners as well as investors interested in investing in Nigeria’s extractive sector.
“Transparency and accountability of transactions and operations of the sector are key to making investment decisions concerning the sector. The EITI report globally and NEITI reports in Nigeria have constituted a very important benchmark for measuring adherence to the noble ideals across the globe.”
