FG sets up inter-ministerial committee on NEITI reports

The Federal Government on Friday in Abuja inaugurated an Inter-Ministerial task team to ensure the implementation of reports from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative to recover all unremitted revenues discovered from audit findings.

The decision was sequel to allegations of inconsistencies in the management of resources in the oil and gas sector.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, while performing the inauguration, said Nigeria consciously signed up to NEITI based on a clear conviction” that once transparency was implanted in the management of the nation’s abundant extractive resources, it will boost the government’s efforts towards poverty reduction, sustainable development, social harmony as well as better investment climate”.

Anyim said the idea is to reconcile and publish revenue receipts from the extractive sector and ensuring that the enabling law of Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative is working closely with the relevant agencies to undertake corrective measures. He said: “The law enables for identifying of lapses in the management of oil, gas and mining industries”.

He said the Federal Government fully supports the regular audit and prompt implementation of issues that may arise from there.

The SGF charged the reconstituted task team to work closely with NEITI and ensure prompt recovery of all outstanding revenues due to the Federal Government from audit findings, “and make recommendations to government through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation”.

Other responsibilities of the new task team include “to undertake any other measure desirable to ensure that recommendations by NEITI add value to on-going reforms in the industry and to advise the Federal Executive Council on any issue in NEITI audit report findings that needs the council’s intervention”.

The chairman of the task team, Mr. Ledum Mitee said reports are not intended to witch-hunt but “for the purpose of identifying lapses with a view to correct them or better still close them.”