EFFC Warns Covered Entities Against Non-compliance With NEITI Audit Process
By Gift Eguavoen
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede has warned all industry players, oil and gas companies and relevant government agencies covered in the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) industry audits, against non-compliance.
Speaking as special guest while presenting the NEITI 2022/2023 oil and gas industry audit Report in Abuja, Olukoyede said refusal or resistance to comply fully with the annual NEITI industry audit process is considered by the EFCC as “a costly mistake”.
While emphasizing that the EFCC’s investigations begins where the work of NEITI stops, he promised that the current NEITI Report on the oil and gas sector is now with the Commission for further necessary action.
He disclosed that just before the launch of the 2022/2023 reports, he had signed off a remittance of the recovery of N1billion to the beneficiary agency of government courtesy of NEITI previous audit findings.
Olukoyede used the opportunity to commend NEITI for its credible data and information, promising to further deepen cooperation with the agency.
Meanwhile, a breakdown of the Report shows that 2.521 trillion standard cubic feet (SCF) were produced in 2022 representing a decline when compared with 2.744 trillion SCF produced in 2021. This is as the gas sector recorded a total production of 2.491 trillion SCF in 2023 representing only 1% drop in gas production when compared with the total production recorded in 2022.
From the Reports, NEITI further disclosed that a five (5) year trend analysis (2019 – 2023) of gas production in Nigeria showed that the highest production volumes of 3.048 trillion SCF was recorded in 2019 and the lowest of 2.491 trillion SCF was produced in 2023.
The NEITI Report further showed that a total of 137.361 billion SCF of gas was used as fuel in 2022 based on data provided by only 32 gas companies.
On the contribution of the oil and gas industry to employment opportunities during the period under review, the report findings showed that only 6,728 persons were employed in the sector out of which 83% were men, while only 17% were women. In the same vein, the sector witnessed a steady decline on its contributions to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
A trend analysis showed the contribution of oil and gas sector to GDP in Nigeria from 7.32% to 4.34% in 2022 and 5.75% to Nigeria’s total GDP of N 202.365 trillion (US$478.06 billion) in 2023. The Report attributed the decline to dwindling oil production arising from insecurity, oil theft and sabotage.
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