NNPC ends 2021 with global award for oil, gas reforms

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has ended the year on a bright note after it won an award as the overall best company in oil and gas reforms at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) global awards which was held in Seoul, South Korea.

Nigeria picked the award at the expense of other countries in Africa and the Middle East that were implementing the OGP at the summit of member countries, for setting up a Beneficial Ownership (BO) registry to end anonymous companies in the country.

The Deputy Director/Head Communications & Advocacy of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Obiageli Onuorah, said in a statement that a lot of factors were considered before Nigeria was picked for the award.

Onuorah said the summit considered the government’s overall commitment to reforms in the oil, gas and mining sectors and its support to NEITI to establish a beneficial ownership register of companies in business in Nigeria’s extractive sector.

Also considered were the broader reforms in beneficial ownership disclosure by the CAC through the amendment of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) and the recent Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

Commenting on the feat, Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, expressed delight that the international community was beginning to assess Nigeria’s efforts at fighting corruption and deepening its democracy.

He described the award as impressive and encouraging, considering the political will and enormous resources the government had deployed to reposition the extractive industry to benefit all Nigerians.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed, congratulated Nigeria on the award and noted that establishing a beneficial ownership register had helped Nigeria “track, reduce and arrest corrupt practices that are undertaken either by companies or beneficial owners of companies.”

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a partnership of 78 countries and 76 local governments – together representing more than 2 billion people – along with thousands of civil society organisations.

They work together to make governments more transparent, less corrupt, participatory and responsive to its citizens.

Over 8,000 members of the OGP community voted in the Impact Awards, which had Tunisia and Ghana coming second and third respectively.

NAN