NEITI Seeks Transparency In Nigeria’s Oil Industry

The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has called for transparency in the operations of the oil industry in Nigeria.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that the Ad hoc Committee on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) had in April held public hearing simultaneously across the six geo-political zones.
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, made the call at the final public hearing on the PIB organised by the ad hoc committee last week in Abuja.

The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has called for transparency in the operations of the oil industry in Nigeria.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that the Ad hoc Committee on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) had in April held public hearing simultaneously across the six geo-political zones.
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, made the call at the final public hearing on the PIB organised by the ad hoc committee last week in Abuja.
Zainab said that in order to ensure transparency in the industry, the PIB should provide for an allocation process that was clear and transparent and open to the general public.
She said that there should be a clear description of the process for transferring or awarding oil licensee.
The NEITI boss advised that the PIB should provide for the creation of a publicly available register of the corporate entities that bid for, operate, or invest in petroleum upstream assets.
She called for the creation of a register of licences that would be open to the public, containing comprehensive information about the licences and the licence holders.
Zainab also suggested that there should be provision that would allow for cash-call payments for Joint ventures (JVs) as a first line charge on the Federation Account.
“This means that the Federal Government’s share of the expenses for JVs operation will be paid based on agreed work-plan and budgets directly from the Federation Account.
This should be done prior to other disbursements from the said account," he said.
On his part,  Malam Nasir El-Rufai, a former FCT Minister, said Nigerians should be given the opportunity to bid for available oil blocs instead of arbitrary award to select individuals by the president.
El-Rufai said that to entrench transparency in the oil industry, the discretionary powers of the president to award oil blocs should be curtailed.
“Today, Nigeria has a track record of attracting billion dollars in fees from frequency spectrum.
He said that there should be a government framework that encourages independence of the regulators in the sector.
The former minister insisted that regulators should not be made to report to the minister of petroleum.
“I think that as you are doing this legislation, we must have independent regulators. Independent regulators mean that they will not report to the minister,’’ he said.
He suggested that the joint ventures should be incorporated and put on the stock exchange so that Nigerians could buy shares in it.
On the petroleum host communities’ fund, the former minister applauded the initiative, saying it was assailable, but called for a governance framework.