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NEITI, NNPC, DPR working to make petroleum contract terms open – Orji

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, has said it is working with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to make terms of contracts signed in the oil and gas industry open and accessible to citizens in line with the country’s commitment to the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

NEITI Executive Secretary, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, who disclosed this to journalists on Friday at the end of a 5-day knowledge sharing workshop for NEITI staff in Abuja, said a committee to resolve issues surrounding contracts disclosure in the industry will be set next week.

Nigeria on January 1, 2021 came under obligation as an EITI implementing country to disclose terms of contracts entered into in the petroleum industry and in the solid minerals sector.

Since January 1, the NNPC has signed two major contracts, first a $1.5 billion deal for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery and another deal with its Production Sharing Contract, PSC, partners, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCo, Total E&P, and Nigeria Agip to renew Oil Mining Lease (OML) 118, for another 20 years.

Very little details are known about these contracts. But Dr. Orji explained that there is need to be an understanding on what needs to be disclosed to ensure the sanctity of those contracts.

He said: “Yesterday I had a one-hour session with the GMD of NNPC on how NNPC and NEITI can develop a framework of engagement beginning with NNPC’s disclosure on certain contracts that they are currently pursuing.

“We need to develop that framework and it will specify what do we disclose? How do we disclose it? When do we disclose and at what time? Who will consume the information that will be disclosed and how will that information be used in a way and manner not to jeopardize the operations of the covered entities in a manner that is open, transparent and accessible.

“I am not able to make further comments on this because the GMD NNPC and I, and the Director of DPR, have agreed to form a nucleus, a joint committee to develop a framework that will guide our organizations, protect the interest of our country, and still provide information that will be useful to investors, citizens, civil societies and the media”, he added.

Dr. Orji who has just been elected chair of EITI global network on contract transparency noted that his election was in recognition of the work Nigeria has done in the area of contract transparency.

He explained that the workshop for NEITI staff was for him to sell his ideas for NEITI in the next five years and to develop a five-year strategic plan for the agency.

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