CLARA NWACHUKWU

Recently, about 60 participants from nine African countries took part in a two-week Regional Extractive Industries Knowledge Hub (REIK Hub) Summer School, which held at the Ghana Institute of Management, Policy and Administration, Accra.

Participants were drawn from oil and gas operators, ministries, members of parliament, labour, international organisations, civil society groups, religious institutions, traditional rulers, the academia and the media, who were put through intensive coaching on avenues for leakages and revenue loss in the extractive industries and how to checkmate capital flight from their respective countries. Participants were drawn from Tanzania, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Liberia, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Ghana

The Nigerian contingent comprised 10 representatives that included two media representatives, one of whom was Sweetcrude’s Deputy Editor, who were sponsored by the Facility for Oil Sector Transparency, FOSTER, a British change programme funded by the Department of Foreign International Development, DFID.

According to the sponsors and organizers of the programme, GIMPA, Revenue Watch Institute and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GiZ), the summer Hub also “seeks to deepen knowledge and equip participants with skills for them to undertake independent analysis of fiscal and revenue management policies, EITI reports analysis, contracts analysis and finally understand key legislation in their countries.”

The two-week residential course covered fundamental and intermediate governance issues in the Extractive industry, EI value chain.

The Summer Hub, which theme was, “Governance of Oil, Gas and Mining Revenues,” was to acquaint participants on critical issues that will help their respective countries maximize benefits derived from the exploitation of their natural resources.

Each course is made up of modules that cover the EI value chain and structured along general concepts (theory and practice); comparative analysis of current situations of current situations from the region and beyond; case studies; policy labs to analyse regional cases studies; and plenary discussions.

The participatory and output oriented course also drew from participants experience, their professional skills and individual initiatives. In addition to the lectures and case studies, was a field trip to AngloGold Ashanti Iduapriem Mine, Takwa, to give participants firsthand experience at the mines.

They added that the variety of approaches adopted for the programme is meant to encourage participants to share their ideas and experiences through small group discussions and workshops.

These approaches are geared toward a deeper understanding of the issues and challenges in the EI within Africa, which is an emerging hub for providing global energy security. Participants are equally expected to use the insights to improve on the existing frameworks in the sub-region, while also developing regional capacity to provide effective training and mentoring to grow the number of knowledgeable, skilled human resources who are duly equipped to affect strong oversight and governance of natural resources.

“The purpose of the Summer School is to strengthen, equip and empower participants to exercise their oversight roles effectively in the prudent management of extractive industry revenues by their host governments,” said the organisers.

Over 30 courses were delivered cutting across policy, contractual processes, fiscal regime, exploration, exploitation and production, refining, marketing and transportation, and environmental issues and rounding off with group projects on specific subject matter along the EI value chain.
With regard to sponsoring the Nigerian contingent to the Summer School Hub, FOSTER, said that this is geared toward strengthening transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, especially as the sector is the livewire of the economy, from which it derives the bulk of its revenues.