To create the environment for sustainable and peaceful operations in the extractive sector in the Niger Delta, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has underlined the importance of building a stronger collaboration and partnership with civil society groups in the region to promote issues of environmental justice, energy transition, climate change and gender equity.
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, said in Abuja at a meeting with a delegation from the Niger Delta-based Environmental Right Action (ERA) that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) would soon be signed to deepen civic engagements on these issues concerning the management of oil and gas emissions in the extractive industries, particularly in the host communities.
Orji, who acknowledged ERA as a leading civil society organisation promoting environmental justice in oil producing communities, said the MoU would cover public education and enlightenment, civil society policy advocacy, capacity building on the control of toxic and poisonous chemicals, such as Carbon Monoxide, Methane and other pollutants resulting from oil and gas exploration in host communities.
The NEITI Chief welcomed the special interest shown by ERA to collaborate with NEITI in addressing these issues, saying the new focus of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) globally was on the promotion of these identified issues.
He emphasised the importance of dialogue, constructive civil society engagement, policy-based discussions with government and extractive industry companies as well as with diverse stakeholders, insisting these were the areas requiring partnership with civil society organisations.
To meet the challenges of a rapidly changing energy sector, Orji confirmed that NEITI recently launched a five-year strategic plan that takes these issues into consideration, and would soon commence the process of reviewing the agency’s enabling law.
NEITI, he said, has embraced aggressive training programmes for its workforce to building the required capacity to handle this exercise.
The NEITI Executive Secretary invited the Non-Governmental Organisation to carefully study the research publications on Environment and Gender recently launched by NEITI, with the support of Ford Foundation, so as to position itself for a productive engagement with NEITI on issues of the environmental justice and gender equity.
Orji gave the assurance that NEITI was ready to provide institutional support required to advance public dialogue, knowledge and action in this area.
The Executive Director of ERA, Chima Williams, who also led the delegation, described the collaboration with NEITI as timely and a project his organisation was fully committed to pursue.
Williams also used the opportunity to bring to NEITI’s attention the inherent dangers facing the Nigerian economy and the environment in the Niger Delta region.
He said the gradual divestment of international oil companies from onshore to offshore operations in the region with limited monitoring has left behind abandoned oil wells with environmental pollution and degradation consequences.
He identified this challenges as areas of collaboration with NEITI, given the agency’s capacity to support the process with crucial information and data.
The ERA boss pledged full commitment to the proposed MoU with NEITI to promote these important issues for the greater good of the region and the country at large.
