The Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative NEITI has presented its 2019 industry audit reports and inaugurated the communications/Civil society steering committee to enhance communication efficiency and promote transparency in NEITI activities.
The Executive Secretary of the agency Mr. Orji Ogbonnaya unveiled the report and inaugurated the committee in Abuja.
NEITI is an agency of the Nigerian government established to ensure that, there is due process, transparency and accountability in what companies doing business in Nigeria’s oil and gas industries and solid minerals pay to government in the form of taxes, royalties, and bonuses.
It is also to ensure transparency, due process and accountability is strictly applied in what government receives from companies in Nigeria.
While inaugurating the communications/Civil society steering committee, Ogbonnaya said, “the creation of the committee was based on the convictions that the Civil society and the Media are integral part of the NEITI process, in dealing with specific issues of civil society engagements, dissemination of NEITI reports and other policy products.”
He identified civil society and the media as the most dependable allies to NEITI in the discharge of its statutory mandates.
“Over the years, NEITI’s engagements with civil society are strictly guided by the “EITI civil society protocol which requires that civil society representatives are able to engage in public debates and express opinions about the EITI process without restrain, coercion or reprisal. It requires that civil society representatives are able to communicate freely, communicate and cooperate with each other regarding the EITI process.”
The NEITI boss said, under his leadership, the agency will continue to work with other relevant agencies to sustain and uphold the principles of Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative and civil society protocol.
He urged the committee to consider their selection as a call to service and an opportunity to contribute their quota to the transformation of oil, gas and mining sectors as well as development of Nigeria.
In a remark, the Chairman Communications and Civil Society Steering Committee CCSSC, Mr. Peter Egbule said, the media and the civil society, has a role to play in the Extractive Industry especially now that the Petroleum Industry bill (PIB) has been assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“We must move the Extractive Industry to the next level for the betterment of Nigeria,” he said.
The communications/Civil society steering committee has Mr. Peter Egbule as Chairman with members drawn from the Media, Gender Equity groups and the Academia among others.
Nneka Ukachukwu
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