A major scandal broke out on Monday among civil society groups engaged in the extractive industry, as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has rejected a plot by the National Coordinator of the Publish-What-You-Pay (PWYP) Nigeria, Taiwo Otitolaye to smuggle himself into the newly constituted Board of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
The NEITI Board was dissolved last year along several others. Since then, its reconstitution was delayed for several months.
Deceitfull scheme, clandestine plot
But on February 13, 2024, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, wrote to NEITI a letter with Ref. No. SGF/19/S.52/C.3/T/498 calling for the nomination of a civil society representative to the then pending reconstituted Board.
NEITI later circulated copies of the letter from the SGF to the larger civil society community, especially those working in the extractive sector, to seek their input.
Mr Otitolaye cashed in on the letter from NEITI calling for the nomination of a civil society representative to the National Stakeholder Working Group (NSWG), also called NEITI Board, to forward his name as the current National Coordinator of the Publish-What-You-Pay Nigeria to be appointed into the NEITI Board, despite serving as a member of the Guidelines Committee constituted to draw up the guidelines for the selection of the candidate.
By the submission, Mr Otitolaye sought to hoodwink and deceive the SGF and the Nigerian Government, with the argument that this was “in line with the global and regional practice for the National Coordinators of Publish-What-You-Pay in each country to represent civil society organisations participating and engaging in Extractive Industry Transparency International (EITI) processes.
Besides, Mr Otitolaye in a bid to validate his self-nomination, claimed his submission was sealed and confirmed by Zonal Coordinators of Publish-What-You-Pay Nigeria and Strategy/Transitional Committee members across the six geopolitical zones of the country after their Boards consultations with the CSOs working in the EITI process in Nigeria.
Claiming to lead the largest coalition of CSOs working on the EITI process in Nigeria, Mr Titolaye said PWYP, which has played pivotal roles in the establishment of NEITI and continued to engage with NEITI, has emerged with the largest members with skills and contributions to the success of EITI process in Nigeria since 2004.
“Presently, it (PWYP) has 150 organisations members that are working and engaging at different levels in the extractive industry across Nigeria,” Mr Otitolaye told the SGF.
NEITI seeks clarification from EITI
However, NEITI wrote to the global EITI seeking clarifications on its practices and procedures for nominating CSOs and representatives to the National Boards in its implementing countries.
In a response to NEITI, the EITI not only blew the lead off Mr Otitolaye craftily constructed lie that only National Coordinators of PWYP in Extractive countries are usually appointed to represent CSOs in National Boards in Extractive countries, it also clarified in unequivocal terms that no single CSO has the exclusive right to appoint the representative of the CSOs to the Board of national extractive counties.
In its response to NEITI’s letter signed by the Executive Secretary, NEITI, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, NEITI’s Regional Director- Anglophone and Luso-
phone Africa Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in EITI, Gilbert Makore, buttressed his response with the provisions of EITI Standard Requirement 1.4a(II), which states that: “The EITI Standard and procedures relating to constituting the MSG and nominations for each constituency do not prescribe that any organisation should be represented on the MSG.”
Rather Makore said the objective of the EITI Standard was “to ensure that there is an independent MSG that can exercise active and meaningful oversight of all aspects of EITI implementation in a way that balances the interests of the three main constituencies. A key precondition to meeting this objective is that the MSG group must include adequate representation of key stakeholders appointed on the basis of an open, fair and transparent constituency procedures; make decisions in an inclusive manner; and report to wider constituencies.
Plotting for his appointment; working with Selection Committee
Meanwhile, Mr Otitolaye was plotting and scheming to be appointed into the NEITI Board through the backdoor, he doubled down as a member of the Guidelines Committee headed by Tijah Bolton-Akpan, of Policy Alert.
The seven-member committee constituted by the entire civil society organisations working in the extractive sector in Nigeria was charged with the responsibility of formulating guidelines for the selection of a credible representative among the CSOs for submission to the SGF to be appointed into the NEITI Board.
Other members of the committee, which had Juliet Alohan-Ukanwosu as Secretary, were Faith Nwadishi of the Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA); Frank Titie of Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER); Mina Ogbanga of NGOs in Extractive Industry Group, and Bassey Udo of Media Initiative for Transparency in Extractive Industries (MITEI).
During the period he remained a member of the Committee, Mr Otitolaye worked valiantly to muddle teh committee’s deliberations, by often finding fault in every decision, and fond of sharing unapproved confidential information on deliberations of the committee to the wider civil society platforms in a bid to cause confusion and mobilise civil society groups’ opinions against the activities of Committee and its mandate.
When he failed to achieve his objective, he carelessly threw in his resignation letter and walked away.
Presidency affirms Mr Otitolaye rejection
But, the Presidency on Monday, April 22 ,2024, affirmed the rejection of Mr Otitolaye self-appointment into the NEITI Board, by naming other members, except the slot for the CSO representative.
In announcing President Tinubu’s approval of the new NEITI and Board, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, said the NSWG, which he is the Chairman has the Group Chief Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, as member.
Others are the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji; Oghenegheke Ajafia of the Oil Producers Trade Section of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI); President, Miners Association of Nigeria, Dele Ayanleke, and Nkechi Isigwe of theWomen/GeoScientists,and extractive industry expert who is the former President, Association of Professional Women Engineers.
The Board, which has the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, as Secretary, has other memberneiti
Ps as the President of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), William Apkoreha, as well as the representatives of the North-West Zone, Musa Abdullahi Lawan; North-East, Abubakar Mu’azu; Noth-Central, Mathew Sunday Adoli; South-west, Olasupo Abdel-leleel Taiwo; South-East, Israel Ikechukwu Ikwuegbu, and South-South, Stephen Leo Akpan.
In announcing the composition of the new NEITI Board, the SGF gave the CSOs more time for its Selection Committee to conclude its assignment and submit the selected representative.
The erstwhile NEITI Civil Society Guidelines Committee had written to the SGF to inform him of its successor three-member Selection Committee headed by Mmanti Umoh of Community Stakeholders for Social Good (CSSG) which is currently working to bring the process to a close soon.
Other members of the Committee include Auwal Rafsanjani of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), with Janet Adeyemi as Secretary.
The committee has already issued an elections calendar that id expected to help it manage an electoral process to bring out an independent CSO representative for the NEITI Board latest May 15, 2024. Neiti
