By Oscarline Onwuemenyi

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, has asked operators in the oil and gas industry, including the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, as well as public officials connected with public accounts in the country to cooperate with the accountability watchdog in its bid to sanitise the industry and ensure value for money.

The NEITI Board, otherwise known as the National Stakeholders Working Group, NSWG, has also given a one month extension to NEITI Auditors to conclude all issues related to the 2006-2008 Audit reports for the oil and gas industry.

NEITI’s Director of Communication, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, said in a statement in Abuja, that the Board advised all relevant Agencies such as the NNPC; the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS; Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, OAGF; Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN; and other such entities to cooperate fully with NEITI in reconciling areas of discrepancies in the report.

It stated, “The Board warned that after the one month deadline, NEITI will have no option than to publish the full contents of the reports in the media.”

NEITI has therefore advised all agencies that have any opinion on the report to express them during this period of reconciliation.

Meanwhile, the National Stakeholders Working Group, NSWG has set the successful conduct of audit of the oil and gas industry and the solid minerals sector as the new targets which must be achieved before the end of the year.

Addressing the Meeting in Abuja last week, the Chairman of NSWG, Professor Assisi Asobie said that, “The comprehensive audit of oil, gas and solid minerals sector is to cover the period 2009-2010. NEITI has so far conducted audit for 1999 -2005, and recently 2006-2008”but is yet to conduct any audit in the solid minerals sector.”

Professor Asobie explained that the new target set by the Board is informed by the need to ensure regularity of NEITI audits and move into the solid minerals sector where many Nigerians have little or no information on its potential to the economy. He added that to sustain NEITI’s compliant status recently achieved in the EITI community, NEITI must work hard to implement its work-plan.

He also directed NEITI Secretariat to work closely with the offices of the Auditor General of the Federation and Accountant General of the Federation to ensure that accounts of public agencies in Nigeria are audited in accordance with international standards. The Meeting directed NEITI to work with Sao Tome e Principe members of the Nigeria STP Joint Development Authority with the support of the World Bank to commission the auditing of revenue flows generated in the Joint Development Zone.

The Board encouraged NEITI to visit Sao Tome e Principe to commence discussion on the way forward. Other targets set by the Board include empirical study of its output, outcome, results and impact to cover the views of NEITI stakeholders in the use of data and information generated by NEITI through audit reports, evaluation of social, economic and political impact in the last seven years and appraisal of use of NEITI data as tools for decision making.

The Meeting ratified the nomination of Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo (Governor- Elect of Gombe State) as Nigeria’s representative in the international EITI Board and also congratulated the Executive Secretary, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed and her team for achieving Nigeria’s compliant status.

The Executive Secretary, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed had in addition to the new target set by the Board identified public education and enlightenment, civil society and legislative partnership as well as regularity of the NEITI Audits in both solid minerals and oil and gas sector as post validation priorities. She assured the Board that the NEITI Secretariat had already commenced implementation of all audits in the 2011 Work-plan including the conduct of new audits and outreach activities.