The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has urged the Federal Government to implement the recommendations of its audit reports as part of measures to reform the oil and gas sector. The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.
She said that the organisation conducted annual audit of the extractive industries in the country. According to her, this is to ensure transparency and accountability in the remittances of taxes, royalties and funds to the Federal Government. Ahmed, however, expressed worry that the audit reports released by NEITI were not being implemented as part of measures to reform the sector.
“NEITI had made report to Mr President, to say that the recommendations of the NEITI audit reports are not being implemented as we hope it will be. And as a result of that, Mr President re-constituted the Inter- MinisterialTaskTeam. And that committee has been given the mandate to ensure that all the recommendations of the NEITI audit report are implemented and carried out by respective agencies of government.
“So, we are continuing on that process and we hope also as a new administration comes in, that they will also re-focus their attention by using the NEITI audit reports as part of the tools to bring about the much needed reforms in the oil and gas sector.’’
She said that the re-constituted committee was made up of members drawn from 12 government agencies. According to her, the committee is comprised of fund managers, as well as stakeholders in the oil and gas and mining sectors. NEITI is mandated by law to promote transparency and accountability in the management of Nigeria’s oil and gas and mining sectors.
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