Barely a week after the inauguration of the reconstituted National Stakeholders Working Group (NSWG), another vital component crucial for the effective implementation of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) process in Nigeria’s extractive industries was also inaugurated on Monday in Abuja.
The newly inaugurated committee was the re-invigorated Inter-Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) of NEITI has the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) as its Chairman.
While the NSWG, otherwise called the NEITI Board, is the highest decision making body in the NEITI process, the IMTT, which is a decision of the Executive Council of the Federation (FEC), has the vital role to play in ensuring that the published oil, gas and solid minerals industries reports are not only accurate, but also their findings and recommendations are effectively implemented.
The task team, which has been in place since the release of the first NEITI oil and gas report that covered years 1999-2004, has the critical role to carefully study 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 as well as identify the agencies responsible to carry out the remedial actions as recommended by the Independent Administrators.
Also, the IMTT is charged with the responsibility to map out strategies to track and report on the progress made towards the effective implementation of the findings and recommendations in the NEITI reports.
Besides, the IMTT would ensure the various industry reports were not just published to gather dust on NEITI shelves, but their findings would 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 the country is endowed with.
At the inauguration of the task team at the NEITI House in Abuja on Monday, the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, described it as a reunion from what was 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,” Orji said.
He noted that the last EITI validation exercise 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.
NEITI, the Executive Secretary pointed out, was therefore convinced that the IMTT framework was better positioned to meet the challenges identified in the governance framework put in place for the extractive sector.
In addition, he said NEITI was of the view that the achievements and impacts it has recorded in the sector would best be tracked and documented under the framework of the IMTT, considering that its structure would support in tracking and measuring where NEITI is, where it should be and how it could get there.
Orji disclosed that the NEITI Board has expanded the IMTT, which has the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) as its Chairman, to serve as the forum for both remediation and government engagements.
The reconstituted IMTT is composed of representatives of the key agencies working closely with NEITI to implement the EITI process in Nigeria.
They include representatives from the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
Others are the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (OAuGF), Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Mining Cadastre Office (MCO), amongst other agencies whose representatives are officers not lower than a director.
Orji expressed confidence that members of the IMTT would take leadership on how the NEITI findings and recommendations were implemented in their various organizations and agencies.
“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,” he said.
The Executive Secretary announced that NEITI has since commenced the conduct of its 2022/2023 industry reports of the Oil, Gas and Solid Minerals sector, adding that the scope of coverage was very wide and the outcome covering companies doing business in both sectors would benefit the government, the legislature, the civil society and the international development partners as well as investors interested in investing in Nigeria’s extractive sector.
Acknowledging the importance of transparency and accountability of transactions as crucial ingredients in the operations of the extractive sector, Orji said these were key components of the investment decisions concerning the sector.
He said the EITI report globally and NEITI reports in Nigeria constitute a very important benchmark for measuring adherence to the noble ideals across the globe, pointing out that NEITI was determined to publish the 2022-2023 reports by September, 2024.
While thanking the National Assembly, civil society organizations working with NEITI, and the companies under the umbrella of the NEITI-Companies forum as well as the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce (OPTS) as well as the Miners Association of Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other Offences Commission (ICPC), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and other anti-corruption agencies for their cooperation and partnership, Orji urged all the covered entities to adhere strictly to the requirement for the timely provision of information and data by relevant government agencies and companies covered by the process.
