N’Assembly to Establish NEITI Forum

• N’Assembly to Establish NEITI Forum

A parliamentary group on Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative is to be established by the National Assembly, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has said.

It said on Sunday that the group would be drawn from relevant committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives and would coordinate legislative actions on implementation of remedial issues identified by independent audit reports of NEITI in the extractive industry.

NEITI said the decision to set up the parliamentary group was part of the resolutions reached at a retreat held in Lagos for members of the National Assembly on EITI implementation in Nigeria.

The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Waziri Adio, in his address at the retreat, explained that the proposed parliamentary forum would help to coordinate the work of the various committees in addressing remedial issues in NEITI reports.

He said the forum would also promote and strengthen intra-legislative committee relations, engagements and outreach on important issues that require urgent legislative intervention and advocacy.

The agency stated that at the retreat, legislators and their aides were exposed to the principles, processes, methods and benefits of EITI implementation in Nigeria by NEITI and the role of the legislature in the EITI value chain.

NEITl also announced that it had expanded its operations in the oil and gas industry to cover commodity trading.

The NEITI’s Director, Communications and Advocacy, Ogbonnaya Orji, explained that the agency’s decision to move into commodity trading was in line with its mandate and in compliance with EITI 2016 global standards.

He said, “The overall objective of NEITI’s interest in commodity trading is to improve transparency in the sale of the state’s share of production by government and state-owned enterprises, among others.”