FG and the NEITI initiative

The economic reforms of the Federal Govern ment being experimented in different sectors of the economy is poised for a boost when the senate reconvenes and it passes into law the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Bill.

The real sector, which is the manufacturing sector of the Nigerian economy has suffered a great neglect and must be given utmost attention in our drive to be one of the best 20 economies in year 2020.

The senate when reconvenes is expected to pass into law a Bill for an Act to provide for the establishment of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), which has earlier been presented to the upper house by the Committee on Establishment and Public Service headed by Felix Ibru.

Checks by Nigerian Tribune revealed that the Bill, among others, made a provision of #30 million fine on any company in the extractive industry, which defrauds or underpays the treasury. Another crucial aspect of the Bill that may send jitters to the unscrupulous operators is the two years imprisonment or a fine of #5 million that awaits a director or others connected with the management of such a company.

According to Felix Ibru when he was addressing the senate, the Bill would pave way for effective monitoring of payments into the federal coffers. Section 16 of the Bill reads “ an extractive Industry Company, which gives false information or report to the Federal government or its agencies regarding its volume or production, sales and income , or renders false statement of account under this Act to the Federal government or its agencies, resulting in the underpayment or non-payment of revenue accruable to the Federal government, or statutory recipients commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not less than #30,000,000”.

When buttressing his point to the Senate, Ibru said it is through NEITI that independent auditors shall be appointed in line with international audit standards to carry out audit works of extractive companies representing some government agencies such as Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR),Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and others.

Mr Ibru further made mentioned of yet another important aspect of the Bill, which according to him would ensure effective performance of the NEITI, which is the clause for the creation of National Stakeholders Working Group (NSWG) to monitor practical use of the Bill. The issue of accountability in reporting of and disclosure of revenue by the extractive industries due to the government would also be the focus of NEITI.

Some of the targets of the Bill are to ensure due process, effective management of revenue from oil, gas and mining payments including taxes, dividends, and loyalties and transparency and accountability in payments and revenue receipts. On a very serious note, the nitty-gritty of the NEITI Bill is another yardstick to nip corruption in the bud in the extractive industries which it ( the Bill) embodies. The Section 16 of the Bill which frowns at underpayment or non-payment of revenue accruable to the Federal government and of course giving of doubtful information about the volume or production, inter alia, is highly commendable.

Be that as it may, one thing that will keep on being the subject of concern to the Nigerians is the implementers of whatever may have been mentioned in the Bill. Getting non-corrupt people to handle such a laudable assignment is always a hard nut to crack. The stakeholders are to watch out and of course follow up the implementation of the policy so that it will still not be an exercise in futility. The activities of the nimbies are Rubicons to be crossed in order to get expected results.

Suffice to say that, the Ibru Committee or the National Assembly for that matter may also need to look at how we can inject into the law of the land the effective use of our solid minerals, which are important raw materials for our extractive industries. One thing that may not be clear is the time limit with which the Senate will have time to look into the passage of the Bill when it reconvenes because of the exigency of political transition agenda that will be its major focus when elections would have been concluded.