To support the growth and sustainable development of the nation’s economy, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on Tuesday made a seven-point recommendation to set an economic agenda for the Tinubu administration.
Highlights of the recommendations were conveyed in a goodwill message presented by the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, at a one-day Technical Roundtable on Economic Agenda Setting for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
Organized by ActionAid Nigeria in collaboration with the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the roundtable deliberated on the priority policies and programmes the administration should pay attention to in order to support the sustainable growth of the nation’s economy.
In his presentation, Orji said apart from prioritizing the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, NEITI was also in support of the government’s decision to remove subsidies on petroleum products, but recommended the urgent unveiling of a comprehensive welfare programme for the poor and the vulnerable.
Other areas NEITI recommended for the government to pay particular attention to included the urgent need to tackle the menace of crude oil theft; the development and publication of a detailed costed and comprehensive gas policy spelling out clear roles for state, non-state actors and investors, and a deliberate policy agenda on the reforms in the nation’s solid minerals sector.
While commending the President for his pledge in his inaugural speech to sustain the fight against corruption in all its ramifications in the country, Orji said NEITI recommended that the pledge should be followed with sustained Presidential pronouncement, action plan, and unveiling a national strategy against corruption.
Orji said as a sub-set of the global EITI implementing a multi-stakeholder coalition of government, companies, and civil society, NEITI was committed to ensuring transparency and accountability in the nation’s extractive industry, consisting of oil, gas, and mining sectors.
Over the years, he said NEITI demonstrated courage in leading the advocacy of the EITI principles through the provision of information and data to support revenue generation for the government, blocking leakages, supporting national development aspirations, and reducing poverty in the economy.
As an agency of the government mandated to ensure transparency and accountability in the nation’s extractive industry, he said NEITI made a series of recommendations in its annual industry audit reports presented to the government for its policy interventions.
The NEITI Chief expressed confidence that if the recommendations were fully implemented, they would support and help to grow the nation’s economy.
Giving details of the recommendations, Orji noted the activities of the Presidential Steering Committee (PIASteerco) set up to implement the PIA, which identified 85 regulations and 27 model contracts the government should develop to shape the implementation of the Act.
These regulations, NEITI pointed out, when fully developed, would strengthen the fiscal regimes and overall governance of the nation’s oil and gas sector.
Orji called for the membership of the PIA Implementation Steering Committee, composed largely of technocrats and renowned industry experts, to either be reviewed, strengthened, or reconstituted and energized to ensure the speedy conclusion of its work.
On the removal of subsidy on petroleum products, Orji said although NEITI was fully aware and quite sensitive to the pains the fundamental policy shift has imposed on the people, he was of the view that it was a necessary decision, considering the huge burden it constituted on the economy for a long time, depriving other critical sectors the much-needed funds for development and social projects.
Apart from the fact that almost N4 trillion of the 2022 budget was slashed from the allocations for health, education, infrastructure, etc. to fund fuel subsidy payments, Orji said NEITI audit reports showed that between 2005 to 2021, Nigeria spent over N13.69 trillion to finance fuel subsidies.
To guide the government on how to solve the problem, Orji said NEITI, in its policy advisory, titled: “The Cost of Fuel Subsidy to the Nation: Options for Policy Review”, outlined what the government needed to do on the issue while pledging to further provide the necessary guidance as the need arises.
To provide succour in the face of the difficulties the people are grappling with in the wake of the fuel subsidy removal, NEITI stressed the need to urgently support citizens in the areas of social safety nets, review of workers’ welfare, micro-credits, and mass transportation system.
“NEITI is aware that action is in progress. But we need to move as fast as the speed of light to ameliorate the interim negative consequences of the removal of fuel subsidy,” Orji said.
On the menace of crude oil theft, Orji said NEITI reports between 2009 and 2020 revealed that Nigeria lost over N16.25 trillion as a result of the stealing of over 140,000 barrels of crude valued at $10.7 million daily.
On gas development, Orji said NEITI’s advice was for the Federal Government to develop and publish a comprehensive gas policy linked to a transparent gas flare commercialization programme and Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan, which pledged to support with information and data.
On the reforms in the nation’s solid minerals sector, Orji said NEITI recommendation was for an urgent amendment of the Mining Act 2007, by creating a state-owned enterprise like the NNPC Ltd, but with a strong private sector-led governance structure.
NEITI disclosed that since1999 to 2020, the Federal government earned about $741.4 billion as revenues from the oil and gas sector and 8.16 percent of the real gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, while solid minerals earnings from 2007 to 2020 were a paltry N635.19 billion, representing 0.45 percent of the nation’s GDP.
While appealing to the new administration to pay a high premium on the reform and development of solid minerals to compete in revenue generation, NEITI said this would prepare the country for the global energy transition programme.
On the fight against corruption, NEITI reminded the government that the international community and the nation’s development partners were eagerly watching out for commitments, a plan, and a strategy supported by a strong political will to punish bad behaviour, block leakages and curb wastage.
These actions, NEITI pointed out, would boost not only the citizens’ confidence but also that of the investors and accelerate the nation’s economic growth and development.
