The Federal Government has challenged the newly reconstituted Board of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to strengthen the agency’s drive towards domestic resource mobilization.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chair of the NEITI Board, George Akume, gave the charge during the opening session of the retreat for the NEITI Board in Lagos on Monday.
Represented by the immediate Nigeria’s Ambassador to Togo, and member of the NEITI Board, Mathew Adoli, the SGF identified the government’s interest in the extractive sector as reforms driven by transparency, beneficial ownership disclosures, contract transparency, revenue generation, tackling oil theft and other process lapses in the industry.
The SGF commended the work that NEITI in collaboration with other agencies have done and urged members of the new Board to consider their appointments as opportunities to give back to the country and contribute to the progress and development of Nigeria’s extractive sector.
The SGF said, “By Nigeria’s strengthened membership of the EITI, the President has demonstrated the desire to enthrone good governance, openness and transparency in the governance and management of Nigeria’s oil, gas and solid minerals sector revenues through the enhancement of popular participation, inclusivity, accountability and unrestricted support to NEITI to carry out its functions.
“Let me renew the unequivocal commitment of the Nigerian government to the implementation of the EITI under the provisions of the NEITI Act 2007 and the global EITI Standard which has led to the prompt implementation of the report findings and recommendations as catalysts to reforms and transformation of Nigeria’s oil, gas and mining sectors as well as the general conduct of government’s business.”
Executive Secretary of NEITI, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, explained that the retreat presented the opportunity for the new Board to reflect on the role of NEITI in shaping a new direction for the extractive industry.
“This requires robust discussions that will bring about ideas to deal with the current challenges of oil theft, illegal mining, stealing of Nigeria’s precious minerals, pipeline vandalism, damage to the environment and the ecosystem and other governance challenges that have contributed to loss of revenues and investment opportunities in the sector that should be addressed,” he said.
