NEITI, EFCC working to recover $6b, N66b oil sector debts

Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) said yesterday that it was working in collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to recover about $6 billion and another N66 billion owed the Federal Government by industry stakeholders in the oil sector.

Executive Secretary of NEITI, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, who disclosed this while defending the 2025 budget before the House Committee on Petroleum Resources, Upstream, said the agency has presented all its reports in the extractive industry before the parliament.

He said NEITI was set up to enthrone transparency and accountability in the oil and gas sector as well as the mining sector, adding that the agency was handed a budget envelope of N6.5 billion for the 2025 financial year.
This is made up of N2.220 billion for personnel, N1.722 for overhead and N2.575 billion for capital projects.

He said some of the critical activities of the agency in the year 2025 will include conducting industry report of the oil & gas and mining sectors, as well as fiscal allocation and statutory disbursement audit, research studies on the actual volume of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) consumed in Nigeria, the economic impact of energy transition in Nigeria and a national perception survey EITI implementation in Nigeria.
Orji said from its 2020 and 2021 report alone, over $3.7 billion were recovered into government coffers as outstanding liabilities from companies operating in the oil and gas sector in the country.
However, members of the House Committee on Petroleum Resources, Upstream queried the agency for repeating items budgeted for in 2024, while also including items that are not justifiable in the current economic situation in the country.

Kafilat Ogbara said agencies of government should ensure that what they bring to the parliament as their budget comply with the line items specified in the budget and not just see the annual budget as a ritual of appropriating money so as to get their own share of the national cake.

Source: thenationonline.com

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