Don't Miss


Home   >   Business   >   Industries   >   NEITI to audit energy and solid minerals sector

NEITI to audit energy and solid minerals sector

By on December 31, 2012

NEITI Chairman Ledum Mitee

With a view to ensuring that accountability, integrity, transparency and probity are restored in the operations of the lucrative Energy and Solid Minerals sector in the nation’s economy, the National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, says it is planning an audit that will cover 2007 to 2011.

The five years period in review is to analyze how viable the extractive industries operations have been in the country,
considering the increased operations yearly and the Foreign Direct Investment flow that have come into the activities of the sector.

This is also as a result of the directive from the Federal Executive Council meeting of the 28th of November,2012 calling for a thorough audit of the Oil and Gas, and the Solid minerals sector, in order to  verify how investments in the sector have been utilized.

Considering the recent agitations of some of the oil producing communities in the country, the NEITI audit is to also investigate how allocations to the Niger-Delta have been spent within the given review period.

It will also inquire into how various monetary and fiscal transactions in the sector, have been managed and spent, considering the various levels of corruption that have rocked the Oil and Gas sector as revealed by the recent Mallam Nuhu Ribadu Petroleum Sector Investigations report.

Speaking on the development, a member of the NEITI Stakeholders Working group, Mrs Faith Nwadishi said the body was going to work with the Federal Government to achieve a nine-month timeline set to complete the audit of the sector.

She further stressed that “It is part of our statutory mandates in the extractive industry. In line with the FEC decision, we are going to meet the auditors that won the contract early in January to sign the agreement. It is an exercise we are committed to and everything is being done to ensure its success.”

Oil and Gas companies have received the news of the planned audit, with a lot of enthusiasm, believing it will seek to confirm and verify payment claims they have made regarding the amount spent in Oil producing states in the country.