We condemn the unregulated operations of foreign mining companies in several Nigerian communities, and the resulting insecurity. We offer our support towards addressing these challenges
By Moses Okorie
A group, Publish What You Pay Nigeria (PWYP) has commended the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) for the roles it plays in driving transparency reforms in Nigeria’s extractive sector, and for the innovations in its reporting, including those related to environmental and gender which are making the annual audits more relevant.
PWYP made the commendation in a press conference they held in Abuja on Wednesday, after their national and sub-national leadership on-board capacity building workshop organized with support from the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC), and with funding from the European Union and International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).
Speaking on behalf of the group, the national coordinator of PWYP, Dr. Erisa Danladi said there has been a lot of improvement in extractive sector data supply, however, this has not been matched by uptake and utilisation of the data to hold state actors and corporations to account.
“Our commitment is to significantly move the needle on utilising not just NEITI -produced data but data from other aspects of natural resource governance in demanding accountability, including at the subnational level”.
The group further commended the change in leadership at the Nigerian National petroleum Cooperation Limited (NNPCL), and urged the new leadership to expedite action in proactively supplying operational data, in line with its commitments as an EITI-supporting company.
They said, “We however frown at the recent scandals that have placed the national oil company on the front pages of national news, and call for an independent probe of these allegations. We also demand stronger implementation of governance frameworks in our mining sector, especially those targeted at improving oversight at the subnational level.
“We condemn the unregulated operations of foreign mining companies in several Nigerian communities, and the resulting insecurity. We offer our support towards addressing these challenges and strengthening the ongoing review of the Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act 2007”.
In 2004, Nigeria’s chapter of the global Publish What You Pay (PWYP) campaign was born. A few months later, Nigeria signed on to the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), keying in to a global trend in which civil society advocacy was beginning to define a new way of doing business the in oil, gas, and mining sectors.
Since 2004, Publish What You Pay, Nigeria has worked alongside government, industry, and communities to place transparency and accountability at the heart of the extractive sector, which they said their coalition helped secure the NEITI Act of 2007; a continental milestone that opened the books on oil revenue for the first time.
PWYP Nigeria is part of PWYP International, the foremost global movement of over 1,000 civil society and grassroots organisations of which Nigeria has the majority of members, campaigning for transparency and accountability, citizens participation in the management of natural resources and the energy transition.
“As a coalition, we are currently focused on driving an energy transition that leaves no one behind. Nigeria adopted an Energy Transition Plan in 2022 and has made ancillary commitments to climate action, including those contained in Nigeria’s Climate Change Act (2021) and the updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
“We are determined as a coalition to engage these frameworks to ensure that Nigeria’s natural resources yield just and accountable outcomes for citizens and for climate. We will focus on ensuring that the shift from fossil fuels happens in a manner that does not compromise the livelihoods of extractive host communities. We will also ensure that the rising interest in our transition minerals is not only value-adding for our industry but does not repeat the mistakes of our oil and gas industry.
“The enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act in 2021 signified an important milestone towards entrenching transparency and accountability in the oil and gas sector. It also for the first time introduced provisions aimed at driving benefits from the sector hitherto marginalised and impoverished host communities. As the PIA marks its fourth year of its enactment, PWYP sees this as an important moment to review the implementation of key transparency reforms in the Act, including those related to open contracts and beneficial ownership transparency.
“We are also committed to making the Act yield meaning for our host communities. The Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) recently published that 137 Host Community Development Trusts (HCDTs) have already been incorporated. While this is commendable, we call on the NUPRC to smoothen out regulatory bottlenecks that could be hindering the establishment of the remaining Trusts. We are also aware of governance challenges in the HCDT implementation and commit as a Campaign to engage with these issues both at the regulatory and community levels”, she said.