Nigeria scales through global EITI assessment

Nigeria passed the last international evaluation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative’s (EITI) implementation.

At its 58th board meeting, which was chaired by former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and conducted from the organization’s international headquarters in Oslo, Norway, on Thursday (yesterday) the International Board of EITI announced the assessment’s outcome.

According to a statement released on Thursday by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Nigeria received an overall score of 72 points during the 11-month assessment.

Three main thematic areas—transparency, involvement of stakeholders, and results and impacts—were used to evaluate the nation.

Nigeria had the highest score of 92 points on outcomes and impacts, 71.5 points on implementing changes in the extractive industry led by transparency, and 52.5 points on stakeholders’ interactions throughout the three categories.

The board also highlighted NEITI’s successful implementation of EITI in the nation with “visible and tangible impacts on extractive industry governance” in determining Nigeria’s rating of 72 points over 100.

The board observed that the EITI’s “robust system for developing work plans for implementation, monitoring and evaluation, dissemination and outreach” was reflected in the 92 points earned in the outcomes and impacts category.

The 20-member board, which was presided over by Ms. Clark, praised NEITI’s demonstrable and concrete contributions to extractive industry governance and reform in the mining, oil, and gas sectors.

“As an agency, NEITI expected a higher overall score for Nigeria given government’s support, stakeholders’ collaboration, and the quantity and quality of work that NEITI put in on behalf of the federal government in the past two years,” said Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji in response to the global assessment report. A minimum score of 90 points across the three main indications was what we were hoping for.