By Emmanuel Addeh
The federal government has said that it is set to reinvigorate the Inter Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) set up to ensure prompt implementation of findings and recommendations in industry audit reports of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Ahmed Idris, who chairs the committee, while speaking during a visit to NEITI secretariat, said he was at the agency’s headquarters to fashion out the modalities and the framework for the new panel.
“The Inter – Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) will now be resuscitated, it will come back to life and will continue to discharge the very objectives for which the government set up that committee to achieve. The result will begin to come very soon.
“This is part of the collaboration. We are always supportive of what NEITI is doing and they are equally collaborating with us. We will put heads together to make sure that whatever is due to government by way of revenue, royalty, fines and so on, do come to government.
“We are supportive hundred percent of what NEITI is doing and we will assist them to achieve their objectives,” Idris assured.
He explained that NEITI was working in the areas of curbing corruption and plugging leakages in the extractive industries, stressing that the visit showed the importance his office attaches to NEITI’s job of scrutinising revenues and ensuring that such revenues are fully accounted for.
“We have a lot in common because as a treasury, we also have an oversight function on revenues coming to government, not just the federal government but to the entire federation and that is also what NEITI is doing,” he added.
While welcoming the nation’s chief accountant, NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji, said he would continue to ensure that the job of tracking government finances in the extractive industries is done effectively.
“We want to work with all agencies that either take custody of government funds, warehouse or manage them because most of these funds come from the extractive industries and the office of the accountant general of the federation is the nation’s treasury house, so the office has enormous responsibilities in that regard.
“I am very much encouraged by the massive reforms that the accountant general’s office has carried out in terms of payment systems that have been automated. This has reduced very significantly issues of corruption. That is why NEITI finds the office a very useful partner.
“When we look at NEITI’s industry reports, we are encouraged by the responsiveness of the office to NEITI’s remedial issues,” Orji added.
The NEITI boss regretted that in the last five years, the IMTT has not been very active but pointed out that the committee will be resuscitated to reduce to the barest minimum the chances of NEITI quarrelling with sister agencies on the pages of newspapers.
“This is because from inception the concept of the IMTT by government was to ensure inter-agency discussion and dialogue on NEITI remedial issues with a view to resolving them.
“It was quite impactful in the past and that is why we are going back to that task team with the support and collaboration with the office of the accountant general of the federation”, the NEITI Chief said.
Meanwhile, NEITI is to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
The MoU is to define modalities for deepening the engagement with the NFIU in the areas of information and data sharing in financial corruption in the extractive industries.
The executive secretary of NEITI, explained that the measures were designed to ensure that those who take compliance to NEITI processes for granted will face the consequences.
