CLARA NWACHUKWU

Facility for Oil Sector Transparency, FOSTER, recently ended a two-day capacity building workshop on effectively analyzing and utilizing reports from the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI.

The workshop, which took place in Abuja was facilitated by the Revenue Watch Institute, is part of the institute’s global programme to boost the use of EITI reports, “so that they become effective tools of reform.”

The organisers are concerned that the reports are not being used s expected, especially as, “NEITI spends significant time and resources on the production of the NEITI reports, and these reports constitute the single greatest, publicly-available source of information on Nigeria’s oil sector.”

It, however, noted that the trend is not peculiar to Nigeria alone as the great potential of the reports in ensuring accountability and transparency in the extractive industries are lost in many countries.

As a result, the workshop aims to give participants new skills and ideas on how to use NEITI reports to understand and analyse Nigeria’s oil economy, and also conduct oversight and advocacy activities.

Specifically, the organisers noted that users of the report focus more on the process of compiling the report rather than using the information and data contained therein as a working tool.

They argued that “accountability only works if people read, understand and use the reports, while knowledge of the extractive sectors only increases if numbers are accurate and complete.”

Participants were encouraged to assess the quality of the reports based on the 2011 edition of the EITI Rules, which among others stipulates that:

. Reports must be produced annually

. Data contained in them should not be more than two years old

. A clear definition of materiality

. Audited accounts required from government and companies

. Discrepancies between government and company figures must be identified and reconciled, where possible

. Sub-national transfers, barter deals and social payments should be included

. Reports must be clear and accessible.

At the end of the workshop, participants, which included civil society organizations (CSOs), professional bodies, the media and NEITI representatives, charted actions plans on how to improve the quality of NEITI.

While the CSOs spoke about advocacy activities to the National Assembly; Federal Inland Revenue Services, FIRS; the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR; and calling for reconciliation meeting by all stakeholders, the professional bodies called for the strengthening of the technical capacity of NEITI, and auditors given clear and defined terms of reference.

Also stressing the need for increased technical competence, NEITI promised of quality assurance and control of its reports, while the media on its part demanded greater access to information and data to enhance public awareness.