To deepen knowledge and build capacity of its staff and stakeholders on financial matters, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) in collaboration with Open Oil supported by DFID and Facility for Oil Sector Transformation (FOSTER), recently in Abuja, held a training on financial modelling.
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mr. Waziri Adio, in his remarks, stressed the importance of financial modeling skills especially its versatility and applicability to a myriad of economic issues.
Mr. Adio noted that NEITI is moving away from an exclusive focus on yearly audits of the extractive sector, to educating and disseminating information on different areas of the industry to all spheres of society including the government, private sector, and citizens
He urged participants at the workshop to develop themselves by using new skills learnt at the workshop and expressed appreciation to Adam Smith International for the technical and financial assistance provided through OpenOil and FOSTER.
The focus of the training was on understanding the 1993 PSC agreements in Nigeria’s oil sector. It included an in-depth discussion on 1993 Petroleum Sharing Contracts (PSCs), and building a financial model for revenue, cost, and profit estimates for the 1993 PSCs.
At the workshop, participants were trained on how to build a financial model using standardized modelling tools to ascertain revenues accruable to the Federation from these PSCs.
The workshop also noted the need for participants to build their skill on financial modelling and its importance in understanding projects.
According to the NEITI May newsletter, stakeholders at the workshop who included representatives of Nigeria EITI, Zambia EITI, DPR and CSOs were also exposed to techniques of conducting advocacy from a position of knowledge using scientific data rather than sentiments.
- Participants agreed that the use of financial models in various aspects of the economy would bring about relevant growth when the results are analysed and necessary policies put in place.