Stakeholders in the oil and gas sector have advised the CBN to create a unique window of forex access to facilitate seamless operations of modular refineries in the country.
They spoke at the Nigerian Content Midstream and Downstream Oil and Gas Summit, which opened in Lagos on Monday and ended on Tuesday.
Their advice was part of a communiqué issued on Wednesday in Lagos which was signed by Mr Dan Kikile, the Manager Corporate Communications, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).
The two-day summit had as its theme, “Maximising Potential in the Midstream and Downstream Oil and Gas Sector- A Local Content Perspective.”
The stakeholders urged relevant authorities to adopt creative initiatives to address the nagging issue of irregular supply of feedstock to the modular refineries, which was hamperring the smooth operations of the plants.
They also urged the Federal Government to divest from the petroleum depots and address the dysfunctions of Nigerian pipeline infrastructure.
The stakeholders also requested that the NCDMB should consult more with midstream and downstream stakeholders to co-produce solutions to the peculiar challenges confronting the sectors.
They listed the challenges to include sustenance of subsidies, inconsistent supply of feedstock, and the broken product distribution infrastructure.
The stakeholders also highlighted the challenges that modular refinery operators face in sourcing forex and called attention to the hurdles and delays that complicate the process of operationalising a valid import waiver.
Other suggestions pointed to the need to encourage accelerated investment in modernising and upscaling the local supply chain to ease petroleum product distribution.
They also urged the authorities to formulate and implement policies and interventions to support indigenous operators and make them globally competitive in terms of quality delivery and product pricing.
The recommendation also included the need to incentivise the collocation of modular refineries and the depots at the Free Trade Zones to enable easy offtake of petroleum products and promotion of gas utilisation.
The stakeholders observed that the midstream and downstream sectors had numerous leverage points to create value and these opportunities were yet to be fully explored.
They thanked the leadership of NCDMB for tenaciously building the momentum of Nigerian content and urged all stakeholders to support the organisation to sustain the progress achieved so far.
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has underscored the need to go beyond global standard prescription to address peculiar gender and environmental issues within Nigeria’s extractive industry.
Mr Olusegun Adekunle, Chairman, National Stakeholders’ Working Group (NEITI Board) made this known at its validation workshop on “Development of Frameworks for Gender and Environmental Impacts Reporting in Extractive Industry” on Tuesday in Abuja.
In a keynote address, Adekunle said that the frameworks were being developed to reflect the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) standard.
The Chairman recalled that in 2020, Nigeria EITI published the first data on gender participation and environmental practices in the industry.
He said beyond the audits, it had also carried out exploratory studies to understand the specific gender and environmental issues in the sector, and to generate insights about the scope of the impacts.
Armed with the initial outputs of these studies and engagements, he said it was close to defining the parameters for disclosure on gender and the environmental impacts.
According to the Chairman, the framework will aggregate the knowledge that it has generated in the last two years.
“We are here as stakeholders, to review the work that has been done so far and to make valuable inputs towards finalising the reporting frameworks for gender and environmental impacts.
“However, we should go beyond what the global standard currently prescribes, to address the peculiar gender and environmental issues that we may be dealing with within our nation’s extractive industry,’’ he said.
He recalled that the EITI was founded 20 years ago on the noble principles of equity and sustainable development, adding that these principles remained relevant today if not more than they were in 2002.
“While the EITI was established with the objective of disclosing payments and revenues from extractive resources, the global institution has made significant progress in facilitating openness through the entire processes in the resource extraction value chain.
“In 2019, resource extracting countries committed to disclose data and information on gender and the environment.
“This decision is a recognition of the growing impact that the activities in the extractive industry continue to have on human communities and the natural environment.
“The decision also signposts the urgent need for global and country level action to facilitate gender inclusion and environmental accountability in the extractive sector,” he said.
He emphasised the need for data that would help the government to design policies to improve the conditions of our target communities and the environment.
Earlier, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, Executive Secretary, NEITI while highlighting the background of the project, said his immediate task on appointment was to assess the status of Nigeria’s commitments under the new EITI Standard.
“The assessment left me with no doubt that we must deepen the foundation that was already being laid for the implementation of the evolving issues in EITI implementation.
“Two of these policy areas are social and environmental impacts of extractive industry operations,’’ the Executive Secretary said.
“We believe that this framework will enable us not only meet specific EITI requirements, but will help us to define the scope to reflect all issues of gender and environmental impacts within our local (national) context,’’ he said.
Orji noted his second consideration as the need to mainstream gender and environmental impact reporting within existing government systems and institutions equipped with the mandate and capacity to do so.
“While NEITI is mandated to implement EITI in Nigeria, we do not generate industry data. This is the responsibility of covered entities and relevant institutions. NEITI subsequently collects this data to publish in the annual audit reports.
“While NEITI is reporting industry data through the traditional process of data collection and reconciliation, the long-term goal is to mainstream disclosure practices,’’ he said.
He expressed optimism that the contributions of stakeholders would substantially enrich the framework and lay a solid foundation for effective future reporting of gender and environmental impact of extractive industry activities.
The workshop has in attendance NEITI civil society partners, members of the academic community, researchers and experts.