By Bassey Udo
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) says it plans to build on its successes and achievements in 2024, while focusing attention on strategic priorities that align with Nigeria’s socio-economic goals in 2025.
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji who announced this in Abuja on Monday as the lead of agency’s team to the National Assembly for the presentation of its 2024 Budget Performance Report and key priorities for the 2025.
Presenting NEITI’s budget performance and projections for the 2025 fiscal year to the House Committee on Petroleum Resources – (Upstream), Chaired by Alhassan Ado Doguwa, Dr Orji said NEITI recorded commendable and measurable achievements in 2024 driven by the effective utilization of its approved budget.
He highlighted the achievements in the areas of comprehensive and timely reporting, capacity building, stakeholders’ engagements and efficient budget execution.
Specifically, Orji said NEITI completed and disseminated its 2022 and 2023 oil, gas, and solid minerals industry reports, which have been critical in shaping public policy and industry reforms, including addressing energy transition challenges.
Also, in the areas of capacity building and stakeholders’ engagements, Dr Orji said NEITI strengthened its partnerships with civil society organizations, media, and government agencies, by ensuring that the findings in its reports translated into actionable outcomes.
On efficient budget execution, the NEITI Executive Secretary pointed out that despite economic constraints in the economy, the transparency agency achieved significant milestones with the prudent allocation of resources across personnel, overheads, and capital projects during the year.
On the 2025 Budget, Dr Orji said NEITI has set strategic goals for the implementation of its objectives and priorities as outlined in the costed NEITI Workplan, which is in alignment with the NEITI Strategic Plan.
The agency’s priorities for 2025z, he said, include strengthening fiscal transparency, energy transition and climate action, policy advocacy, legal reforms, capacity development and infrastructure operations.
He reaffirmed NEITI’s commitment to the promotion of transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s extractive sector, while aligning with the national objectives of the economic diversification and sustainable resource management of government.
“NEITI will conduct independent audits and publish the reports that will cover year 2024 operations in the oil, gas, and solid minerals sectors. NEITI will also expand its focus on revenue generation, including tracking contributions from emerging energy sources and addressing illicit financial flows,” Dr Orji said.
In the areas of Energy Transition and Climate Action, he said NEITI intends to support Nigeria’s energy transition roadmap, by identifying opportunities for green energy solutions and advocating for the mitigation of environmental impacts from extractive activities.
Also, he said NEITI would monitor government and industry compliance with gas flaring reduction commitments.
On Policy Advocacy and Legal Reforms, Dr Orji said NEITI would collaborate with stakeholders to finalize and implement the outstanding regulations under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), while advocating for reforms in the solid minerals sector to ensure increased revenue and accountability.
Additionally, Dr Orji explained that one of the priorities for 2025 would be to enhance NEITI’s internal capacity to meet global transparency standards, including upgrading technological tools and training of personnel to meet the demands of EITI implementation in Nigeria.
“We will also facilitate public education and awareness campaigns and build the capacity of stakeholders to strengthen engagements in resource governance”. Dr Orji said.
In the area of infrastructure and operations, The NEITI Executive Secretary said the agency would execute capital projects to support institutional strengthening, including IT infrastructure upgrades and operational efficiency improvements
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He used the opportunity of the Budget defense to commend the Federal Government for its continued support to NEITI and called on stakeholders, including the National Assembly, donor partners, and civil society, to sustain collaborative efforts towards achieving set national objectives.