Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has reaffirmed that compliance with its mandatory industry audit process is not optional but a legal obligation for all companies operating in the extractive industries.
Also, the Federal Government, through the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), disclosed that it has secured over $400 million in decommissioning liabilities and approved $4.424 billion worth of abandonment plans under stricter rules for recent divestments.
Speaking at the opening session of the NEITI Companies Forum in Lagos, the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, stressed that transparency and accountability were not only national requirements but also critical pillars for building investor confidence, strengthening citizens’ trust, and aligning Nigeria’s extractive practices with global standards.
Orji explained that compliance with NEITI’s audit process underpins efforts to improve Nigeria’s business environment and attract sustainable international investments, stressing that the NEITI Companies Forum had become a strategic platform for forging closer partnerships with companies in the oil, gas, and mining sectors, with focus areas including data disclosure on company payments, beneficial ownership transparency, contract transparency, sub-national fiscal sustainability, climate change, and multi-stakeholder collaboration.
He announced that work on the 2024 NEITI Industry Reports had already commenced and would be concluded before year-end and urged companies to ensure full and timely compliance with reporting deadlines.
At the same forum, the Chief Executive of NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, said Nigeria was applying lessons from costly global divestment cases to safeguard its oil and gas sector.
Komolafe, represented by the Deputy Director of Human Resources, Corporate Services & Administration, Efemona Bassey, disclosed that the Commission had already secured over $400 million in pre-sale decommissioning and abandonment liabilities through Letters of Credit and escrow accounts.
MEANWHILE, the industry stakeholders at the Forum raised concerns about multiple taxation, royalties, and levies imposed by various government agencies.
Chairman of the NEITI Companies Forum, Mr Gwueke Ajaifia, described the proliferation of demands for data and payments as frustrating to the business environment and urged NEITI to escalate the matter to the federal government.
