BREAKING NEWS, Oil & Gas
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Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna State, praises the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative for being a professional and competent government institution in Nigeria
GOVERNOR Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State is enthused by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI. According to him, NEITI is an island of professionalism, integrity and excellence compared to other government institutions. The governor, who stated this when he paid a courtesy visit to the NEITI secretariat in Abuja, last week, described the organisation as a well reformed and competent institution.
He attributed the successes recorded so far in the on-going reforms in the oil and gas sector to the incisive information and data presented to government by NEITI. He said, “NEITI reports were very valuable to the committee of five Governors that examined internally generated revenue remittances by government agencies to the Federation Account. We used NEITI reports extensively.
“NEITI should design a framework that will help the government to plug leakages, process lapses and recover all funds established by the audit reports as cases of under payments and under assessment of taxes by companies operating in the extractive industry in Nigeria.”
El-Rufai commended NEITI for its doggedness and resilience in opening up a hitherto opaque sector like Nigeria’s oil and gas sector in spite of the inherent challenges, institutional resistance and risks. He urged NEITI to insist on reforms without expecting accolades from anybody.
Congratulating Waziri Adio, newly appointed executive secretary of NEITI, the governor described him as a competent professional with a good heart, intelligent and broad minded, noting that his passion and commitment to excellence and the Nigerian project are unparalleled.
He also extolled the leadership qualities of Zainab Ahmed, immediate past executive secretary of NEITI, now the minister of state for budget and national planning, adding that her appointment to the EITI International Board is a mark of respect for the NEITI and Nigeria as a country.
He urged NEITI to uphold the standards, open up the extractive industries in Nigeria and continue to hold both the companies and government to account.
While welcoming the governor, Adio affirmed that El-Rufai’s visit is an endorsement of NEITI’s performance and delivery. He implored the governor to assist NEITI bring the State governments into the EITI process as this will ensure a more holistic and enduring reform of the management of Nigeria’s natural resources.
It will be recalled that NEITI’s 2012 oil and gas industry audit report observed that the sum of $8.4 billion stand as potential recoverable revenues to the federation account from under assessments, underpayments and wrong computation of taxes by the entities covered.
— Apr 18, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT
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