By Emmanuel Addeh
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) have agreed to work together to deepen Nigeria’s implementation of contract transparency and beneficial ownership disclosures in the country.
NEITI said the commitments will enable Nigeria to meet the compliance standards required in the implementation of beneficial ownership disclosure, contract transparency, environmental reporting, gender mainstreaming and the implementation of recommendations in the its audit reports as it concerns the DPR.
The two agencies made the commitment in Lagos at a strategic meeting between the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, and the management of the DPR led by the Director of the agency, Mr. Sarki Auwalu.
A statement in Abuja by the Head, Communications and Advocacy, NEITI, Mrs Obiageli Onuorah, yesterday quoted Orji as describing the meeting as productive and encouraging in building inter-agency confidence and trust.
“We must applaud the DPR that a lot has changed, a lot is changing but also acknowledge that a lot more needs to change. The whole essence of NEITI’s interventions is to ensure that revenues from our natural resource assets support national development and help reduce poverty”, the NEITI boss said.
Orji further commended the upgrade of facility and deployment of advanced technology in the operations of the DPR, adding that what is most gratifying is that the technologies used are all home made.
“It shows the human capital capacity and potential of Nigerians when put to task. My visit has been very enlightening. We may not be there yet, but certainly there are lots of improvements”, he stated.
The NEITI boss pointed out that organisation’s work is to complement those of the regulatory agencies in the extractive sector in Nigeria, pledging to continue to work with other stakeholders in the industry to bring about the needed change.
Orji stated that he and his team were at the DPR to seek partnership and collaboration and complement efforts at building the Nigerian oil and gas industry, especially on the remedial issues as well findings and recommendations in the NEITI reports.
“NEITI firmly believes that Nigeria should be able to track, monitor efficiently and measure empirically what we produce, what we have lost to process lapses, vandalism, outright stealing and sabotage. We want to work with you on this issue because it is for the good of the industry and our country,” he stated.
Auwalu, in his remarks, affirmed that the industry regulator and NEITI share a common vision of transparency and accountability in the nation’s energy sector.
He asserted that his team will work with NEITI to close the existing gaps raised in the agency’s reports of the oil and gas sector.
Auwalu pointed out that the strategic focus of his agency is to grow the nation’s crude oil reserves from its present 36.89 billion barrels to 40 billion barrels and the gas reserves from its present 203 trillion cubic feet to 230trillion cubic feet.
Other areas of focus, he said, are to increase the country’s production volumes which in turn will lead to more revenue for the country, reduce cost by barrel, monetise gas by reducing flaring and optimise gas utilisation as well as putting in place an integrated petroleum and gas distribution network.
