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NEITI moves to review resource governance model

By Sulaimon Salau
05 April 2016   |   11:01 pm
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) is on the verge of developing policies and strategies that would translate the principles of the global...
Kayode Fayemi

Kayode Fayemi

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) is on the verge of developing policies and strategies that would translate the principles of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative implementation in Nigeria into visible impacts on the lives of the citizens.

The visible impacts that would be targeted, according to the new NEITI board, include ensuring that revenues from oil, gas and mining result in poverty reduction; creation of jobs; security of lives and property; improved infrastructure; access to health care; education and social welfare.

Chairman of the NEITI Board and Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Kayode Fayemi, said except and until NEITI’s intervention in the extractive industry governance leads to the urgent resolution of these national development challenges which the citizens had to contend with daily, the main goal of Nigeria’s membership of the global EITI will be far from being realised.

Fayemi, who spoke at the opening of a three –day induction programme for members of the Board in Abuja, said: “ Our responsibility as members of the NEITI National Stakeholders Working Group is to develop and establish policy targets on how the findings and recommendations of NEITI Reports can be implemented in a way that it leads to improved revenue generation to support national development, improve Nigeria’s global rating and business environment for inflow of investments into the sector”

According to a statement signed by the Acting Director Communications, Obiageli Onuorah, the Board Chairman described the Induction program as a forum for strategic thinking and knowledge sharing on ways to address the challenges ahead in an efficient manner in line with the EITI and NEITI mandates.

Fayemi conveyed President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to “building better systems and procedure that will strengthen the capacity of the relevant government agencies, halt mismanagement, inefficiency, lack of transparency in the extractive sector as well as the diversification of the economy”.

The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Waziri Adio, outlined key challenges facing the organisation. He specifically identified implementation of Remedial issues in NEITI Reports, human capacity development for the multi-stakeholders and the alignment of NEITI – EITI principles to the economic reform programs of the present administration.

In one of the presentations, the former Chair of the NEITI Board, Prof Assisi Asobie advised the newly constituted NEITI National Stakeholders Working Group (NSWG) to use the NEITI Mandate to set agenda on the management of Nigeria’s natural resources for the President Muhammadu Buhari led change Administration.

Asobie described the board as the heart of the NEITI and urged it to link NEITI to Nigeria’s budgetary process for better and more sustainable impact.

He explained that one way of actualising the objectives of the NEITI is for the Board to lead the debate on the urgent need to diversify the country’s economy and revenue base. He called for the urgent review of the NEITI Act and other relevant regulations of the EITI process in Nigeria in other to meet present day realities.

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