The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has announced its collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to recover approximately $6 billion and an additional ₦66 billion owed to the Federal Government by stakeholders in the oil sector.
Executive Secretary of the agency, Mr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, who disclosed this while defending the 2025 budget of NEITI before the House Committee on Petroleum Resources, Upstream, said that the agency has presented all its reports on the extractive industry to the parliament.
He said that NEITI was set up to enthrone transparency and accountability in the Nigerian oil and gas as well as the mining sector, adding that the agency was handed a budget envelope of N6.5 billion for the 2025 financial year.
This is made up of N2.220 billion for personnel, N1.722 billion for overhead and N2.575 billion for capital projects.
Mr Orji said that some of the critical activities of the agency in the year 2025 will include conducting an industry report on the oil, gas, and mining sector, as well as fiscal allocation and statutory disbursement audits, research studies on the actual volume of PMS consumed in Nigeria, the economic impact of energy transition in Nigeria and a national perception survey of EITI implementation in Nigeria.
He said from its 2020 and 2021 reports alone, over 3.7 billion dollars were recovered into government coffers as outstanding liabilities from companies operating in the oil and gas sector in the country.
Members of the House Committee on Petroleum Resources, Upstream, queried the agency for repeating items budgeted for in 2024 while also including items that are not justifiable in the current economic situation in the country.
One of the members, Mrs Kafilat Ogbara, said agencies of government should ensure that what they bring to the parliament as their budget complies with the line items specified in the budget and not just see the annual budget as a ritual of appropriating money so as to get their own share of the national cake.
She queried why the agency will budget N32 million for meals in the 2025 budget when Nigerians are going through hard times, saying, “There is no way you can spend that amount of money for meals in a year.
“Most of our MDAs should ensure that what they are bringing as a budget proposal must tally with the line item and the purpose why you want to use such funds Let us not just see budget defence as the money is there and we should share it. So, let us see how to get our share,” Mrs Ogbara said.
Also contributing, Mr Ademorin Kuye said that in preparing the annual budget, agencies of government should be mindful of the economic situation in the country, adding that the impression of Nigerians is that the National Assembly is a rubber stamp and will approve anything that is brought to them by government agencies.
“We are all aware of the situation in the country and we must be circumspect and be prudent in our expenditure because the general feeling out there is that the National Assembly is just a rubber stamp and whatever they bring is what we approve of. And that is not so,” Mr. Kuye said.
The Chairman of the Committee, Mr Alhassan Ado Doguwa, also faulted the language used by the agency in the preparation of the budget and the inclusion of the National Assembly as those benefiting from its welfare package.
Mr Doguwa said that since the committee was constituted, it has not visited the agency on oversight, wondering why they will be included in such a welfare package.
He noted that the only welfare the House expected from them was the welfare of the Nigerian people.
“While I agree that the budget stops at our desk and you are just presenting a proposal, I would like to say that the economy is bad. The population of people for whom we are here are crying out. Agencies of government must be mindful of what they spend out of public resources.
“All these proposals are going to be spent at the expense of the Nigerian people. Sometimes, we come to make presentations here that sound funny and very insulting in the eyes of the people,” he said.
He, however, assured the agency that the committee was ready to support them in actualising its mandate.
“Your agency is a critical one and the legislature is unappreciative of the work that you are doing.
“We will definitely try as much as possible to support you as long as you can justify the reasons for one expenditure or the other. Then the legislature will have no option but to support you and provide you with the enabling financial environment for you to discharge your duties and mandate.”
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