The Embassy of Belgium, Australia and Canadian High Commissions in Nigeria on Wednesday pledged to support the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Open data policy in Nigeria’s extractive industries.
The Diplomats made the pledge shortly after an inspection of the newly completed NEITI Data Centre during a courtesy visit to NEITI House in Abuja.
The Ambassador of Belgium, Pieter Leenknegt; Australian High Commissioner, Leilani Bin-Juda, and the Canadian High Commissioner, Jammie Christoff welcomed the Data Centre project as an important milestone in the use of credible data to fight corruption in the extractive industry.
The diplomats pledged to support the NEITI Data Centre with skills development, training and technical assistance.
Welcoming the Ambassadors to NEITI House the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, described the visit as an opportunity to deepen cooperation and partnership between NEITI and the diplomatic community in Nigeria.
The NEITI Executive Secretary said as supporting countries to the EITI at the global level, their visit was a great opportunity to domesticate the support of their respective countries to the EITI at global levels to connect directly with Nigerian citizens who earnestly desire that the abundant natural resources in Nigeria works for the benefit of all not just a few.
Dr Orji called for closer partnership between the diplomatic missions in Nigeria and NEITI to strengthen NEITI’s international affiliations under the global EITI.
“Your visit is a huge encouragement to us as an agency and an endorsement of our strong international affiliation and partnership with 57 other resource-rich countries”, Dr Orji said.
He told the Ambassadors that the global transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources poses significant risks to countries like Nigeria that depend heavily on hydrocarbon-based natural resource-revenues for survival.
“Our country, Nigeria, is heavily dependent on oil revenues for survival. Your visit is an opportunity to highlight the importance of partnership and cooperation between under developed, developing and developed countries which are all found within the EITI community to share knowledge, skills and technical support with our organisation to help our government and citizens with timely policy decisions and strategies to deal with these complex challenges and unavoidable unfolding developments in the extractive sector”.
He explained that NEITI’s decision to build a Data Centre to enable the agency to support the reforms in the extractive industries with evidence-based decisions.
The Representatives of the National Working Group (NEITI Board), but
Ambassador Mathew Adoli pledged the support of the Board to deepening NEITI’s existing partnership and collaboration with diplomatic missions in Nigeria and international development partners to expand the scope of EITI implementation in the country.
On the role of the civil society, the representative of Civil Society Organisations on NEITI Board, Dr. Erisa Danladi Sarki identified the importance of sustainable advocacy to draw local and international attention to issues of gender and environment arising from oil, gas and mining exploration activities.
The diplomatic delegation were conducted round the NEITI Data Centre.
The NEITI Data Centre, which is a one-stop shop for information and data on Nigeria’s extractive sector (consisting oil, gas and solid minerals), will also serve as a reservoir for all information and data published in the various NEITI Annual Industry Reports since the first edition in 2004 till date. The fully automated state-of-the-art Centre fitted with the latest communication and ICT equipments is reputed to be the first of its kind among the 57 EITI-implementing countries.
