Business
NEITI Advocates More Transparency In Extractive Industry
Executive Secretary,
Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Mrs Zainab Shamsuna, has advised the country’s extractive industry to embrace more transparency and accountability initiatives, to enhance Federal Government’s revenue.
Shamsuna, who was represented by Mrs Obiageli Onuorah, Team Leader of Outreach NEITI, gave the advice in a Media Interaction on Remediation and Inter-Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) activities on Monday in Abuja.
The programme was organised by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC).
She said absence of transparency by the extractive industries had resulted to loss of revenue into the government coffer.
“The accounting system used by NNPC for equity crude is largely not automated, which creates difficulties for reconciliation of fund.
“The NNPC cannot provide accurate audit with analysis of export crude debts due to lack of real time sales ledger.
“NNPC has no consistent practice regarding the point at which production is measured,’’ she said.
She explained that NNPC paid fewer subsidies into the federation account between 2006 and 2008, adding that the subsidy claims were N816.3 billion.
She urged the media to partner with NEITI in releasing its mandate of achieving more transparency in the extractive industry.
However, Chairman, Civil Society Steering Committee, Mr Barbs Pawuru, said the committee on remediation had been working assiduously to identify remedial issues in the NEITI audit report with urgent recommendations.
Pawuru said with the financial and technical support being received by the committee on remediation from the World Bank, It had developed two years working plan to address six priority remediation issues.
He said the six prioritised remedial issues in its work plan, when addressed, would reduce the identified lapses in the revenue stream of the extractive industries into federation account.
“The Civil Society Steering Committee (CSSC) is the clearing house of NEITI.