Skip to main content
Fallback image

Nigeria: EITI recognises progress in addressing natural resource governance

Nigeria: EITI recognises progress in addressing natural resource governance

First Validation under the EITI Standard concludes meaningful progress, but more is needed.

Wednesday 11 January - Nigeria’s efforts to improve natural resource governance through the EITI Standard were recognised today by the international EITI Board. The recognition followed the recently published Nigeria EITI Validation report, as a result of which the EITI Board decided to extend Nigeria’s EITI membership. Validation is the EITI’s independent evaluation mechanism.

The first country in Africa to implement the EITI, Nigeria has helped shape the EITI Standard and developed one of the most extensive EITI reporting processes globally. Over more than a decade of implementation, Nigeria’s EITI (NEITI) has gone well beyond the initial requirements of the EITI by including assessments of physical and process flows alongside the reconciliation of financial payments. Nigeria was also the first country to enact legislation institutionalising the EITI in the country and NEITI has been repeatedly recognised for its efforts to put into effect recommendations from EITI reports. As a result of these efforts, NEITI is said to have led to the recovery of more than USD 2.4 billion for the Federal Government of Nigeria, while increasing multi-stakeholder collaboration and leading to improved governance in the extractives sector.

The EITI Board agreed that Nigeria had made meaningful progress implementing the EITI Standard and highlighted efforts to go beyond the basic requirements in areas including disclosures of the sales of the state’s in-kind revenues and the EITI’s contribution to public debate. The EITI Board also decided on a set of corrective actions that Nigeria will need to address in order to make a full transition to the EITI Standard. The full Board decision is available here.

Referring to Nigeria’s progress, former Swedish Prime Minister and current Chair of the EITI Board Fredrik Reinfeldt said:

“Nigeria has repeatedly demonstrated how the EITI process can be used to achieve important, tangible results for its citizens. Swiftly addressing the corrective actions identified through Validation should help Nigeria continue to demonstrate regional leadership and make a full transition to the EITI Standard.”

Nigeria’s first Validation under the EITI Standard shows that although the Government of Nigeria has taken steps to address all the requirements of the EITI Standard, there is still room for improvement. Areas where further work is needed include data quality assurance and improving the comprehensiveness of reporting by both government and industry as well as state-owned enterprises. In addition, the EITI Board raised questions as to whether the industry and civil society constituencies were sufficiently engaged in EITI implementation, highlighting gaps in effective oversight by the National Stakeholders Working Group.

Having been compliant with the EITI Rules since 2011, Nigeria was tested against the EITI Standard for the first time in July 2016.  Nigeria is one of the first 15 countries to undergo Validation against the EITI Standard. In accordance with the Board’s decision, Nigeria now has until 11 July 2018 to implement corrective actions addressing the EITI Board’s concerns, when a second Validation is scheduled to commence.

Validation scorecard

Notes

For further information about the EITI Nigeria, please visit the country page on the EITI website and the national EITI website.