The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has said the Federal Government should specify the roles of states, non-state actors and investors in the national gas policy in order to deepen the use of gas nationwide.
NEITI, an agency of the Federal Government with the mandate to ensure accountability in the oil, gas and mining sectors, said it had been disclosing information and data, as well as made copious recommendations in its annual industry reports on how to better the lot of Nigeria in the extractive industries.
“These recommendations when fully implemented will support and grow the economy of the nation,” the Executive Secretary, NEITI, Ogbonnaya Orji, stated in a presentation delivered during an economic agenda-setting programme, which was made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Friday.
Orji said the agency “has presented these recommendations to the President for his policy interventions.”
Outlining some of the recommendations, the NEITI boss said, “We also advised the Federal Government to develop and publish a detailed costed and comprehensive gas policy with clear roles for state, non-state actors and investors.
“This should be linked to the transparent gas flare commercialisation programme and Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan. NEITI is really available to support this process with information and data.”
He said NEITI also requested that deliberate attention should be paid to reforms in Nigeria’s solid minerals sector.
According to him, “These include urgent amendment of the Mining Act 2007, creating a state-owned enterprise like the NNPC Ltd, but with a strong private sector-led governance structure.
“Since 1999 to 2020, the Federal Government has earned $741.4bn as revenues from the oil/gas sector and 8.16 per cent of the real Gross Domestic Product in 2020, while solid minerals earnings from 2007 to 2020 were N635.19bn, representing 0.45 per cent of our GDP.
“NEITI’s appeal to the new administration is to pay a high premium on the reform and development of solid minerals to compete in revenue generation and prepare Nigeria for the global energy transition programme that is inevitable.”
He further noted that the journey towards a prosperous Nigeria required stringent sanctions for criminal activities, especially in the extractive sector.
