The Executive Secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, has said the agency would, in the coming weeks, convene a multi-stakeholders forum to provide a status report on the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Orji, who disclosed this at the 1st National Extractives Dialogue (NED), held in Abuja, yesterday, said in the last one year, NEITI has deliberately focused on aligning its operations to addressing key issues that will aid the government to help citizens.
“These issues include designing an effective implementation framework for the Petroleum Industry Act.
“NEITI is serving on the Presidential Steering Committee, and infact, we sit on all the four sub committees. NEITI will in the coming weeks convene a multi-stakeholders forum to provide a status report. Our legitimate interest in the PIA is not only because it is a product of our reports findings and recommendations but because it is key to addressing all the pending remedial issues we have highlighted to reform the industry”, he said.
The executive secretary said the 1st National Extractives Dialogue (NED) is co-hosted by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and Spaces for Change (S4C), an indigenous civil society organisation, with support from the Ford Foundation.
According to him, the collaboration and evolving partnership with Spaces for Change is in line with NEITI’s renewed commitment to provide the required institutional platform to push the boundaries of civic space for wider civil society participation in the extractive industries.
He stated that NEITI chose to work closely with Spaces for Change to address enormous challenges and impediments to reforms in the industry, especially in the areas of environmental protection, efficient resource allocation and utilization, contract transparency and on energy transition.
“This event is designed to provide companies, governments and civil society and development partners in the extractive industry a platform to discuss three contemporary issues of contract transparency, extractive resources benefits sharing and energy transition in West Africa, with a focus on Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal.
“The overall goal is to enable governments, companies, civil society and communities to evaluate the energy industry and proffer evidence-based policy recommendations for the efficient and effective management of natural resource benefits and the transition from fossil fuel to a renewable energy regime with these countries as case studies”.
Orji further stated that NEITI will on June 29, release a research Policy Advisory on the cost of fuel subsidy to the country.
“The publication will outline facts and figures to reinforce NEITI’s position that the removal of fuel subsidy will free our economy from bondage, benefit the majority poor and possibly may hit the few affluent rich currently involved in the subsidy transactions.
“To this end, our industry reports in the oil, gas and mining sector are now and will remain current and our public disclosures are bold, incisive and impactful. We intend to publish the 2021 oil & gas and solid minerals industry reports by November, this year.
“Another report on Fiscal Allocation and Statutory Disbursement that tracks revenues generation and utilisation with facts on managing and improving internally generated revenues also this year. We have automated our data and information gathering process through the NEITI Audit Management System project recently concluded and launched by our Board- the National Stakeholders Working Group,” he said.