The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has called on the government to adequately fund the agency to be able automate its data collection and processing.
The automation would enable it give real time information on receipts and payments, which could have saved the nation ongoing controversies over alleged non-remittances and disagreements among the government agencies.
The Chairman of NEITI, Mr. Ledum Mitee, who spoke to reporters during the launch of the organisation’s enlightenment campaign on oil and gas industry audit for the year 2012, held in Lagos.
Ledum said the agency would not be able to clear the issue of alleged $20 billion unremitted revenues by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) levelled against it because NEITI had not audited the oil and gas industry operations within the period in contention.
He said: “We have consistently made the point that with adequate funding and support, we could automate our data collection processes to enable us get real time data which could be resorted to in the event of this kind of controversy.
“Arising from the above, I hope that one useful outcome of the current controversy over allegations of unremitted funds would be the realisation of the need by all relevant agencies and institutions to give NEITI and its audit recommendations the deserved seriousness and support.
“A properly resourced NEITI, whose audit recommendations are promptly addressed, remains vital not only to our economic well-being, but to enabling citizens derive needed benefits from our extractive resources.”
EITI implementation in Nigeria, he explained, was built on a basic framework of free, open, and unrestricted disclosure of taxes, royalties, bonuses, rents, amongst others, paid by extractive companies to public coffers in resource rich countries.
He said: “The EITI process equally requires an implementing country such as Nigeria to engage an independent auditor to verify and certify the figures disclosed by companies and government respectively and reconcile any discrepancies between them.
“A report of this exercise by the auditor is therefore, put in the public domain in a comprehensive manner by the Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG). Interestingly, the decision by Nigeria to join the global initiative was deliberate and the over-reaching objective was targeted at improving governance in the natural resource-rich countries like Nigeria through prudent use of these resources to reduce poverty, improve the quality of lives of citizens, and provide basic social infrastructure, jobs and others required for peace and security to reign in the society.
“It is to underscore that critical objective that the NEITI Act went beyond the basic EITI standards and requirements of reconciliation of financial payments and receipts to include conduct of regular physical and process audits of the entire value chain and even extends to value for money audits, amongst other functions.”