The House of Representatives has begun consultations with the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on ways to strengthen the existing law setting up the body, describing the organisation as exemplary.
Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum Resources Upstream, Preye Oseke, who spoke when he led the members of the committee on monitoring and oversight visit to the NEITI secretariat in Abuja, pledged to continue to partner NEITI in ensuring that all government public finances are managed transparently.
Members of the committee also requested NEITI to forward its law for amendment with a view to widening the scope of its operations and powers.
Oseke, while pledging to review the NEITI Act explained that the body has an existing Act that would require amendment to expand the scope and enhance the workings of the organisation.
“So, it is not going to be one bill that will come to parliament and lie there. We all want transparency in the extractive industry and we will approach the review with all amount of speed and patriotism for the good of the country,” Oseke stated.
He added that the team was at NEITI to explore how it can strengthen its support to NEITI in the discharge of its mandate.
“We have been interacting with NEITI and we understand its constraints with respect to the funding of its activities. We want to reaffirm our commitment to supporting NEITI in ensuring that it performs its duty as envisaged in its enabling law,” he said.
He emphasised the need to expand NEITI’s funding sources as well as its human resource capacity.
“This is important given the enormity of its work, the nature of the sector it operates in and the diverse nature of the country,” he stated.
He further explained that the extractive industry accounts for over 80 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings, hence it is important for the National Assembly to work with NEITI to get the results and the objectives that had been set for the agency.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji, noted that the NEITI Act has clear provisions on the roles of the legislature in the implementation of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
Orji informed the committee that an in-house review of the NEITI Act is currently ongoing, noting that “Once we are able to establish the areas that require amendment, we shall approach the executive and subsequently the National Assembly for action”
The NEITI boss while giving update on the Act stated that the National Assembly as a law making body, believes and shares NEITI’s vision that the current NEITI Act was passed in 2007 when focus was on oil and gas, but has since then moved to solid minerals and the law needs to be strengthened to cover these areas.
“We are also moving to emerging issues including contract transparency and beneficial ownership to track illicit financial flows, terrorism financing and financial malfeasance through capital flight so our law needs to be strengthened in these areas.
“We have done an in-house review and we will be sending this to government to help us look at it before it goes to the National Assembly for deliberation and law making,” the NEITI boss stated.
