Nigeria

PRESS RELEASE: Six more countries compliant with transparency and accountability standard

PARIS, 2 March 2011 – The Central African Republic, The Kyrgyz Republic, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, and Yemen have achieved Compliance with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the global standard for improved transparency in the oil, gas and mining sectors. The EITI Board designated them as ‘EITI Compliant’ at their meeting today in Paris, bringing the total number of EITI Compliant countries up to 11.

Nigeria publishes the 2006-2008 EITI Report

NEITI has published the 2006-2008 EITI Reconciliation Report on 1 February. This is the third NEITI Report following the 1999-2004 and 2005 EITI Reports. This report shows that Nigeria received $59billion in 2008, $43billion in 2007 and $45billion in 2006. On average two-thirds of the revenue was from the proceeds of sale of crude oil and gas, whilst the remaining third came mainly from the petroleum profit tax, royalties, signature bonuses, and the education tax.

Cameroon, Gabon, Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria designated as EITI Candidate countries that are “close to compliance”

In recognition of their progress in implementing the EITI, the EITI Board has decided that Cameroon, Gabon, Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria are Candidate countries that are “close to compliance”. This was announced following the meeting of the EITI Board in Dar-es-Salaam 19-20 October.

EITI Board to decide on EITI status for eight countries

The Board of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) is meeting 19-20 October in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, to discuss the status of the countries Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Nigeria. These six countries are currently recognised as 'Candidate countries' to the international transparency standard for oil, gas and mining sectors.

EITI media roundup, July 2010

The EITI Secretariat monitors on a daily basis global media for mentions of the EITI. Below are some of the articles from the past month that the EITI Secretariat has picked up.

EITI Board agrees status of 20 countries

BERLIN, 16 APRIL 2010.  The Board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the international standard for improved transparency in countries’ natural resource sector, met in Berlin 15-16 April. The Board discussed the request of 17 of the 32 countries currently implementing the EITI to extend their deadline for completing EITI Validation. In addition, Sao Tome and Principe had applied to voluntarily suspend their EITI Candidate status. 

Nigeria

Compliant country Hidden:  Not Hidden NEITI website Overview of Extractive Industries Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa and among the top ten globally. Its effective pumping capacity is about 900 million barrels a year. Its recoverable reserves are estimated at 34 billion barrels. In recent years, the oil sector has accounted for over 40% of GDP, 95% of export receipts, and over 80 percent of government revenue. The sector is dominated by joint venture operations between the Nigerian government and six major international oil companies—Shell, Mobil, Chevron, Agip, Elf, and Texaco. Nigeria’s reserves of natural gas—an estimated 159 trillion cubic feet of proven reserves—are among the ten largest in the world, but gas production is less significant economically. Status of EITI Implementation The EITI Board designated Nigeria as EITI Compliant on 1 March 2011. Nigeria must be revalidated by 29 February 2016. Nigeria Nigeria was accepted as an EITI Candidate country on 27 September 2007. Nigeria submitted its final Validation report to the EITI Board on 29 June 2010.  Former President Olusegun Obasanjo committed to EITI in November 2003 and launched Nigeria EITI (NEITI) in February 2004. To give legal backing to the work of NEITI, a bill was introduced to the National Assembly in December 2004. This NEITI Act was passed into law on May 28, 2007. With this, Nigeria became the first EITI-implementing country with a statutory backing for implementing EITI. A first set of financial, physical and process audits for the period 1999-2004 undertaken by a consortium led by the London-based Hart Group was published in 2006. The audits identified several weaknesses related to the management of oil revenues and oil and gas sector governance more broadly. Following the release of the audits, an Inter-Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) was asked to put together a comprehensive remediation action plan which was subsequently approved for implementation by the Nigerian government. The remediation action plan covered five key areas: developing a revenue-flow interface among government agencies; improving Nigeria’s oil and gas metering infrastructure; developing a uniform approach to cost determination; building human and physical capacities of critical government agencies; and improving overall governance of the oil and gas sector. The second report covering 2005 was released on 11 August 2009.  The report identified unprecedented financial discrepancies, mispaid taxes, and system inefficiencies.  Over US$800m of unresolved differences between what companies said that they paid in taxes, royalties and signature bonuses, and what the governments said it received were identified. Of this amount, US$560m was identified as shortfalls in taxes and royalties owed to the government and around US$300m in payment discrepancies relating to signature bonuses, payments of dividends, interest and loan repayments. The largest amount owed to the government in the report is an estimated US$4.7bn by the state-owned, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), for payments of domestic crude. However, the NNPC claims it is owed US$1.7bn in subsidies from the government. This second NEITI Report has highlighted numerous issues that call for urgent attention and action by all stakeholders. NEITI has Presidential and Ministerial approval for the implementation of the report's key recommendations. The report notes that "NEITI will ensure that the benefits due to the Nigerian government, agencies and above all the people of Nigeria, from the industry duly accrue to them, in accordance with the principles of transparency, accountability, and sustainable development... NEITI will facilitate this process of remediation, working in collaboration with all stakeholders". On 1 February 2011, NEITI published the 2006-2008 EITI Reconciliation report showing that total revuenues for those years were US$45bn, US$43bn and US$59bn respectively. The report included useful observations and recommendations on improving the management of revenues from the extractive sector.NEITI has announced that revenues from the solid minerals sector will be reported in the last quarter of 2012. together with oil revenues for 2009 to 2011. NEITI is working with the Joint-Development Zone Authorities with Sao Tome and Principe to bring revenues from this joint exploitation into EITI reporting. Governance of EITI Implementation The governing body of NEITI is the National Stakeholders Working Group (NSWG) was appointed by the President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua on 29 January 2008.  The NSWG is chaired by Professor Humphrey Asobie and comprises representatives from civil society, government, and extractive industry companies and representatives of communities (the six Nigeria geo-political zones), and the media.The day-to-day work is carried out by a NEITI Secretariat headed by an Executive Secretary, Haruna Sa'eed. Chairman of the NSWG Professor Humphrey Assisi Asobie hasobie [at] yahoo [dot] com NEITI National Coordinator Mrs. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmedahmedzainab16 [at] hotmail [dot] com Companies operating* Oil & gas companies: BG Group*, Chevron Corp*, ConocoPhilips*, Eni*, ExxonMobil*, Petrobras*, Shell*, Statoil*, TOTAL*, CNOOC (China), CNPC (China), ONGC (India), Petronas, Sasol, Sinopec. * EITI Supporting Company * Note: Company list based on EITI research and is not conclusive For further information, please contact Francisco Paris in the EITI International Secretariat.

EITI Newsletter July 2010: Unprecedented activity in EITI countries

As we approach half-way through 2010, it is proving to be as momentous for the EITI as expected. Although most of the 22 first EITI countries did not complete the validation of their EITI processes by their deadlines, eyes are now turned towards those granted short extensions to complete by September. Countries’ efforts to meet the deadlines have led to an unprecedented level of activity to improve transparency in the extractives sector. In the past 12 months, 18 countries have produced EITI Reports. File:  EITI-Newsletter-2010-July.pdf

Peter Eigen visits West Africa to assess progress on transparency in the extractives sector

Dr Peter Eigen, Chair of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), will visit Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria this week to recognise and encourage the progress being made towards the EITI standard.  Like so many in the region, these countries are characterised by violence, corruption and poverty, as well as an abundance of natural resources.  This paradox is often called the resource curse.  To help address this paradox, each of the countries has committed itself to implement the EITI, which provides a framework and a standard for improving the gov

Nigeria EITI report shows US$ billions owed to government

The latest report on oil and gas revenues released by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on 11 August has shown financial discrepancies and outstanding payments totaling over US$5bn for revenues generated by the sector in 2005.