Nigeria, Three Others Conclude Talks On Extractive Industries
Initiative
Nigeria, the UK, Norway and Azerbaijan have concluded a meeting
to strengthen the work of the Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiative, EITI.
The meeting, convened by the UN Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan,
was to prepare a framework for a draft resolution on the
initiative to the world body.
The talks were attended by the Chairman of the EITI Board,
Professor Peter Eigen, the permanent representatives of the four
UN member countries, and other officials.
A UN source said that the draft resolution would soon be
submitted to the UN General Assembly's second committee, which
deals with economic matters.
“Afterwards, we will send it to the General Assembly for
deliberation and adoption at the ongoing general debate of the
recent 62nd session…This is being done to promote a global
partnership for the initiative, as well as to improve
transparency in the payment and management of oil, gas and
mining sectors,” the source noted.
The Initiative
The EITI chairman, Professor Eigen, at the meeting, praised
Nigeria “for taking bold steps in implementing the initiative
and empowering it with a legal backing.”
Nigeria had in Year 2004, signed on to the Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative, EITI, which is a global initiative
aimed at promoting transparency and accountability in the oil,
gas and mining sectors in resource-rich countries.
EITI is also meant to ensure prudent management of resources and
promote accountability by ensuring openness and putting vital
information in the hands of civil society groups and citizens.
Progress
Out of the 24 countries that have signed on to EITI so far,
Nigeria is the first to back it with an enabling law.
Between Year 2004 and 2006, the Nigeria Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative, NEITI, recovered over N130 billion from
oil and gas companies operating in the country.
NEITI is mandated by law to promote transparency and
accountability in the management of Nigeria’s oil and gas as
well as mineral revenues.
Status
Last month, the EITI Board considered 15 countries as “Candidate
Countries’’ and by so doing could proceed to “fully implement
the initiative.”
The 15 Candidate Countries included Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Gabon,
Ghana, Guinea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Mali,
Mauritania, Mongolia, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, and Yemen.
The EITI Board also said that the countries would have two years
to establish themselves as “fully compliant.”
Nine other countries, among them Chad, Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC), Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Republic of Congo,
Sao Tome and Principe will soon be considered under the
initiative.
Also being considered are Sierra Leone, Trinidad and Tobago, and
Timor-Leste.
The EITI is a coalition of governments, companies, civil society
groups, investors, and international organisations. It is
chaired by the founder and Chair of the Advisory Committee of
Transparency International, Peter Eigen.
Eligibility Criteria
To achieve candidate status, the host government must issue a
public statement of intent and commitment to work with civil
society and companies.
The governments are also expected to appoint a senior individual
lead and to produce a fully budgeted and published work plan
agreed with other stakeholders.
To become fully compliant, a country needs to sign up, prepare,
disclose and disseminate information on all the material
revenues received by the government from the oil, gas and mining
sectors.
All these are to be done with the full engagement of other
stakeholders in each of the country.
At present, no country has fully met the criteria, although many
have advanced processes of its implementation.
NAN/MIA
