Poor metering, inefficient management bane of oil, gas sector – NEITI

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (NEITI) says poor metering and inefficient financial system management were the factors militating against oil and gas development in Nigeria.

Mr Waziri Adio, Executive Secretary of NEITI, said this on Tuesday at a two-day Capacity Building Workshop for Media Practitioners conducted by the organisation for journalists in Mararaba Nasarawa State.

According to Adio, oil and gas industry will improve significantly if governance and revenue management in the sector are addressed.

Other factors he listed that affected the development of the sector are: poor institutional linkages between the technical and financial aspects of the industry and poor information system exemplified by much reliance on paper-based data.

Adio, represented by Mr Donald Tyoachiamin, Director Finance and Administration of NEITI, added that grossly inefficient measurement system for crude oil production accounting also hampered the development of the industry.

He explained that there was no clear basis for determining production volumes for royalty purposes and reliable fiscal regime.

He said that NEITI reports exposed inadequate capacity of the relevant regulatory agencies to confidently verify royalty and petroleum profit tax computations prepared by companies.

Adio said that these deficiencies revealed by NEITI in its audits had over the years cost the Nigerian federation dearly, stressing that they were key sources of waste, fraud and monumental corruption.

Earlier, Chief Gbenga Onayiga, Chairman Communication Committee of National Stakeholders Working Group (NSWG) who delivered a speech on “The Role of Media In The Implementation of the Goals of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI),’’ said that the training was aimed at strengthening the capacity of media professionals on reporting the EITI process in Nigeria.

According to him, the training was also to sensitise participants on EITI’s mandate, objectives, principles processes and method.

Onayiga explained that the training workshop would also discuss key emerging issues in EITI’s implementation plans with specific emphasis on the role of the media.

He said that the media was a stakeholder in EITI implementation, hence had an important role to play in the industry.