The African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD) has called on the National Assembly to review the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Act 2007 to enhance transparency.
The Executive Director of the Centre, Dr Otive Igbuzor, made the call in Abuja last week at the Policy Dialogue on the Natural Resource Charter and NEITI Act.
Igbuzor said that the objective of the Act was to ensure due process, transparency and accountability, to eliminate all forms of corrupt practices in the extractive industries.
“ We call on the national assembly to embark on the process of reviewing the Act in the area of enforcement of sanctions and confidentiality.
“ This will enable NEITI to perform or carry out its mandates more efficiently and effectively,'' he said.
Igbuzor added that it would assist Nigeria to chart a path towards a more equitable and sustainable use of its abundant resources in the extractive sector.
The executive director said that NEITI had a clear theory that could enhance rate of economic growth and development if properly implemented by relevant authorities.
He decried poor implementation of the Act and other laws by relevant authorities.
Igbuzor expressed the hope that the recommendations from the dialogue would help in making suggestion for the amendment of the Act.
Earlier, the Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Mallam Auwal Rafsanjani, urged the assembly to strengthen its oversight function on NEITI to improve accountability in the oil and gas industry.
Rafsanjani also called on the legislature to unravel the truth about indicted agencies in the three NEITI reports from 1999 to 2001.
According to him, it is necessary for the legislature to investigate the findings of NEITI, to take corrective measures against the rot in the indicted agencies.
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