NEITI Commends Stakeholders Over Nigeria’s Oil Sector Ranking
Following the recent ranking of Nigeria as having attained the highest ranking in the implementation of the EITI Standards, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has commended its stakeholders in the country’s oil, gas and mining sectors.
NEITI said the commitment and compliance of the stakeholders to the implementation of the principles of the global EITI process lead to the ranking of Nigeria as making “Satisfactory Progress”.
In a statement issued in Abuja Wednesday, the Executive Secretary Mr. Waziri Adio expressed delight that the cooperation extended to NEITI by government agencies like the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, NNPC, FIRS, DPR, CBN, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development and its agencies like Mining Cadastre Office, Mines Inspectorate Department, were phenomenal.
Mr Adio also expressed deep appreciation to the companies under the auspices of Companies Forum, Miners Association of Nigeria and OPTS operating in the extractive sector that had given NEITI tremendous support during the validation.
Other stakeholders worthy of mention, according to NEITI, include donor and development partners like World Bank, DFID, EU, FOSTER, NRGI, PDF, PERL, Trust Africa, Ford Foundation, OSIWA, and MacArthur Foundation. “In addition, Civil Society Organizations like Publish What You Pay (PWYP), Media Initiative for Transparency in Extractive Industries (MITEI) and the Media among others had contributed in no small measure towards the ranking in the highest category of Nigeria by the EITI”, the statement said.
“This highest ranking by the EITI is a major milestone for Nigeria and the invaluable roles of relevant MDAs, Companies and CSOs working to push for reforms in the sector are hereby duly acknowledged and deeply appreciated by NEITI,” Adio said.
The Executive Secretary stated that the present wave of reforms in Nigeria’s extractive sector made possible by the determination and commitment of its stakeholders to see change happen in a sector that is considered for now to be the life wire and mainstay of the economy was one of the determining factors towards the ranking of Nigeria.
He reaffirmed the commitment of NEITI to continue to work closely with its stakeholders to push for reforms and enthrone transparency and accountability in the extractive sector in Nigeria.
“On our part, we are committed to keeping Nigeria in this leadership position in the EITI community which our country voluntarily joined in 2003 and we will continue to crave your support to us as an organisation and to the full actualization of the NEITI mandate as enshrined in the NEITI Act 2007,” Mr. Adio stated.
It will be recalled that the EITI on 27 February 2019, adjudged Nigeria to have made “Satisfactory Progress” in the implementation of all EITI requirements.
Nigeria is the first Anglophone African country and one of seven countries among the 53 EITI implementing countries to have attained the “Satisfactory Progress” status so far.
Validation is a quality assurance mechanism put in place by the EITI to measure the level of progress and compliance to its requirements by member countries using the same standard. It is conducted every three years by the EITI international secretariat based in Oslo.
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