The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to ensuring that Nigeria’s oil, gas and mining revenues are managed for the benefit of all citizens.
NEITI said it would deepen beneficial ownership disclosures to strengthen revenue tracking, contract transparency and ensure full implementation of extractive sector governance reforms.
Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, Executive Secretary, NEITI made this known while briefing the newsmen in Abuja on the progress it had made in advancing transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s extractive sector.
In the bid to enhance Beneficial Ownership Transparency, Orji said NEITI remained committed to exposing hidden ownership structures to combat corruption.
“We will obtain updated beneficial ownership data from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and publish disclosures on companies acquiring divested assets.
“Transparency is not just a policy; it is a responsibility. NEITI remains steadfast in ensuring that Nigeria’s oil, gas, and mining revenues are managed for the benefit of all citizens.
“However, achieving this vision requires collective effort: To the press, your role in holding power accountable is more critical than ever. To our stakeholders, your collaboration remains invaluable.
“To the Nigerian people, your demand for accountability is the fuel that drives our mission. Let us continue this journey together, for a more transparent, accountable, and just extractive sector,’’ he said.
He said on assumption of office as NEITI’s Executive Secretary, it inherited an institution at a crossroads while NEITI was grappling with serious operational, institutional and governance challenges that threatened its effectiveness.
These, he said included the absence of a functional National Stakeholders Working Group (NSWG)-a key requirement for sustaining Nigeria’s membership in the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
He included others as financial constraints, stakeholder apathy, and weak institutional capacity, poor programme content, policy focus, and declining public confidence.
Orji said beyond these internal challenges, the global extractive industry was undergoing rapid transformation, while issues such as energy transition, beneficial ownership transparency, contract disclosure, and the implementation of Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) were reshaping the sector.
“Faced with these realities, we pursued a deliberate strategy to reposition NEITI as a stronger, independent, and globally respected transparency institution.
“Some of our major achievements include: Enhancing Industry Reporting and Public Disclosure.
“We improved the scope, quality, and timeliness of NEITI’s industry reports, expanding our reporting focus to include beneficial ownership, contract transparency, and environmental impacts.”
“Reconstitution of the NEITI NSWG, ensuring high-level leadership, making it the only Federal Board chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF),’’ he said.
He further said that it strengthened collaboration with oil, gas, and mining companies, reviving and reconstituting the NEITI-Companies Forum to enhance industry engagement.
He said it enhanced engagement with civil society organisations (CSOs) to empower citizens to monitor and demand accountability.
He said with funding from DFID-FOSTER, NEITI developed a comprehensive Five-Year Strategic Plan (2022–2026) that served as a roadmap for its goals, annual work plans, and budgets.
“As the plan nears completion in 2026, we recommend an immediate review to ensure continuity and relevance,’’ he said.
He recalled that it established the NEITI Data Centre Project, a strategic initiative designed to centralise and automate extractive sector data, ensuring open access to industry information and systematic disclosures in line with the EITI 2023 standards.
He said the Inter-Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) responsible for implementing NEITI’s report recommendations was reconstituted in May 2024, after seven years of inaction.
He added that the membership was upgraded to Director-level representation, which strengthened decision-making and policy implementation capacity.
By Emmanuella Anokam