26th November, 2019
Mr Waziri Adio, the Executive Secretary Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) says the Federal Government will soon unveil the beneficial ownership register for the oil and gas industry.
Adio, who disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday said the register would be unveiled on Dec. 12.
The beneficial ownership register is expected to contain information on the actual owners of the extractive industries companies, irrespective of the names of those who manage them in trust for their principals.
He spoke after a meeting with the Head of International Secretariat of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), Mr Mark Robinson who was in Abuja on a working visit.
Adio said that the meeting was organised for journalists and Civil Society Groups to exchange views on EITI implementation in Nigeria, and the ongoing reforms in the oil, gas and mining sectors.
Adio was represented by the Director, Communications and Advocacy, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji.
In his remarks, Robinson commended Nigeria for the effort it was making to ensure transparency in the oil and gas, mining sectors operations.
Robinson said that the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) informed him that the corporation was looking into remediation that had been reoccurring in the NEITI audit reports.
“The NNPC is addressing a lot of the issues that the NEITI reports have indicated over the years,’’ he said.
Also speaking, NEITI’s Director, Technical, Dr Dieter Bassi said that NNPC had been very helpful to the watchdog organisation in its operation.
He said that there were community development agreements that had been signed by the companies and there were always issues about who signed on their behalf.
The report of NEITI, according to him, also covers the revenue from the minerals sector but there were limitations about accessing where the illegal miners are, so the reports only cover companies that make regular payments.