According to the 2013 oil and gas sector audit report released recently in Abuja by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the international coalition for advocacy in Extractive Industries Transparency and Accountability, Publish What You Pay (PWYP), has urged the federal government to develop procedures and systems that would collect and verify oil production data declared by companies.
The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in a statement by the national coordinator, PWYP Nigeria, Faith Nwadishi, during the audit report highlighted the fact that the country lacks accurate oil production measurement system, leaving the country to rely on data provided by the operating companies, a development, it pointed out, that is a source of revenue leakage.
The PWYP urged the NEITI’s Inter Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) to look at the previous reports and their recommendations and design a plan on how to address the shortcomings, especially in the preparation of reporting template and reliability of reported data. In addition, the coalition noted that the accuracy of data, timing of the reconciliation exercise, legal and taxation environment and rigorous follow up on reporting entities.
“We urge the IMTT on the need to look at the previous reports, the remedial issues and recommendations and come out with a plan on how to address the shortcomings, especially in the preparation of a reporting template and reliability of reported data, in addition to the accuracy of data, timing of the reconciliation exercise, legal and taxation environment and rigorous follow up on reporting entities,” the statement said.
It added further that “as a government desirous of diversifying the economy and creating employment, we urge the government to intensify the reform in the sector and create an enabling environment for private sector participants to take advantage of the sector. The government should also intensify efforts to formalize the operation of small and medium scale miners to improve their contribution to the revenue flow.”
Furthermore, the PWYP called on civil society organisations to hold the government and the companies accountable, especially considering the impact of increased activity to our environment. This, it said, can be done through the monitoring of the compliance of extant Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to reduce exposure to environmental hazards and diseases associated with extractive activities.
On the time of the audit reporting, citing Section 4.8 of the EITI standard’s provision on data timeliness which provides that implementing countries are expected to produce the EITI reports on an annual basis, Nwadishi noted that with the publication of the 2012 report in May of 2016, Nigeria ran foul of the provision, and urge the NEITI to begin the 2014 report as soon as possible to meet the December 2016 deadline.
