Some civil society organizations have written a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari insisting the board of NEITI should stand dissolved.
The CSO petition said in part,“We are aware of surreptitious and covert moves by some interests to stampede the government into reversing this decision. These individuals have been making subterranean moves to truncate the reforms you are on the verge of instituting in the NEITI Board. Using sponsored media publications, they have been conflating the issues and whipping up sentiments to attract sympathy and exert undue international pressure on your government. We are morally compelled to advance to Your Excellency, reasons why the dissolution should be allowed to stand.
Read excerpts from the petition below:
RE: THE DISSOLVED NEITI BOARD AND WHY IT SHOULD STAND
Following the recent commendable decision by your administration to dissolve the Boards of Federal Parastatals, Agencies and Departments in Nigeria including the National Stakeholders Working Group (NSWG) of Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the under-signed group of civil society organisations working on transparency, accountability and good governance in Nigeria’s extractive sector have observed with keen interest, some self-serving, individuals calling for the reinstatement of the dissolved NEITI Board.
We are aware of surreptitious and covert moves by some interests to stampede the government into reversing this decision. These individuals have been making subterranean moves to truncate the reforms you are on the verge of instituting in the NEITI Board. Using sponsored media publications, they have been conflating the issues and whipping up sentiments to attract sympathy and exert undue international pressure on your government. We are morally compelled to advance to Your Excellency, reasons why the dissolution should be allowed to stand.
Based on our findings, we can state categorically that several members of the dissolved Board had long lost their credibility, independence, neutrality and therefore, the moral right to remain on the board of an institution meant to ensure transparency and accountability in the oil sector, which has become a cesspit of corruption. Our assertion is based upon the following revelations, which came to the fore after thorough investigations.
Not less than three (3) members of the dissolved Board have displayed brazen partisanship, which runs contrary to the core values of a transparency driven institution like the NEITI. For references, the following can be confirmed by Your Excellency:
Engr .Musa Nashumi: PDP Governorship Aspirant, Katsina State
Engr. Bassey Ekefre (Former Commissioner of Work) active participant PDP Presidential campaign team from Cross River State.
Barr. Patrick Udonfang: PDP Director of Legal Services, Akwa Ibom, State
Ms. Abiola Ige: Active participant in the PDP Presidential campaign team in the South West
Indeed, all members of the Board representing each geo-political zone in the country were fully involved in partisan-politics during the just concluded 2015 general elections. This has without doubt, eroded the level of credibility expected of members of the NEITI Board.
Several members of the dissolved Board have compromised themselves and have lost integrity by engaging in activities that make them unfit to remain as Board members. These, among others include:
Initiating formal correspondence with the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation requesting and obtaining approval to be downgraded from status A to D to facilitate their operation like the Boards of conventional parastatals thereby making some its sitting to contravene Section 9 (1) of the NEITI Act 2007. This was to legitimize the collection of Allowances for meetings, many of which never held and enriching themselves in the process. This explains why the Board usually expended up to 5 times its allocated budget annually. It is ironic and smacks of double standards for some individuals to be calling for special treatment for a Board they wilfully downgraded for pecuniary gains. His Excellency could crosscheck this with the Office of the SGF.
The Board initiated the idea of a NEITI Multi-Donor Fund and initiated correspondences to the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and the NNPC, soliciting funds for the use of the Board. This weakened its ability to effectively play the role of keeping the Companies in check. Although the Fund never effectively took off because the sound judgment of the Executive Secretary, who as Secretary to the Board clearly understood that this would undermine the institution, there are clear indications that several members of the Board benefitted financially from some of the companies through sponsorship to the annual Offshore Technology Conference in the USA. It is difficult for such a Board to effectively protect national interest in relations with the oil companies.
There are indications that the dissolved Board interfered with the procurement processes for the appointment of the NEITI Auditors thereby compromising their independence. This is a violation of the fundamental principles of the EITI globally and the Public Procurement Act 2007. Indeed, Your Excellency, there are indications that the EITI recently observed gaps in the recent Solid Minerals Audit Report where the auditor questioned the validity of the data. We are also investigating the role of the members of the dissolved Board especially the civil society representative, who should ordinarily serve as a whistle blower, concerning allegations trailing the 2012 oil and gas report. The findings already are quite revealing. All of these, including allegations of conflicts of interests in the award of contracts by some members of the Board, all combine to completely discredit the Board and makes its dissolution timely and deserving of further investigation as its status as an oversight body on transparency and accountability is completely lost. Little wonder, your Excellency, that the companies and the NNPC have little respect for our institutions and act with impunity.
We however, recognise the role of some members of the Board; especially from the Professional Bodies, who conducted themselves with decorum, discipline and highest levels of integrity. We acknowledge their contributions and are aware that they did not compromise in anyway. But several of the others who were appointed as political patronage have made the Board irretrievably unworthy to subsist.
We therefore appeal to the Government to approach the EITI International Board with tact and explain her position while asking for understanding and patience toward early reconstitution of the Board to enable Nigeria undergo validation but most importantly reposition NEITI to optimally perform its roles. This will go a long way to dispel the plans of mischievous and unpatriotic persons who wish to hoodwink and manipulate the EITI Board to take an adversarial position against Nigeria by brazenly advocating for the suspension of our country. We wonder whose interest it is they are serving.
His Excellency and his Administration should resist any attempt by the so-called Board members affected by this dissolution to seek relevance through any means whatsoever.
Your Excellency, the reconstitution of a new NEITI should be expedited in the interest of the implementation of the process considering its statutory functions. We only propose that only persons with credibility and track record be appointed.
We will like to draw the attention of his Excellency that the NEITI Board is empowered in Section 12(a) (a) of the NEITI Act 2007 to recommend an appointee into the office of the Executive Secretary of the NEITI and Section 4.1.2 of the Board Charter provides for the such to emerge from a sitting Board. It is safe to conclude that a compromised Board with compromised individuals will only lead to the recommendation of a compromised candidate. With the tenure of the present Executive Secretary elapsing this year, it is only wise that a more credible Board be in place before then.
We also call on the President to initiate the review of the NEITI Act to strengthen the implementation if the NEITI in Nigeria and prevent the circumstances that has led to this in the first place.
Please accept the assurances of our highest regards.
Signed:
- Ezenwa Nwagwu
Partners for Electoral Reform /NEITI CSO Steering committee Member
- Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani)
Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)
- Idayat Hassan
Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD)
- Jaye Gaskia
Protest to Power
- Zikirullahi Ibrahim
Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) / Resource Centre for Human Rights & Civic Education (CHRICED)
- Y Z. Ya’u
Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD)
- Okeke Anya
State of the Union (SOTU)
- Lukman Adefolahan
Zero Corruption Coalition (ZCC)
- Olanrewaju Suraju
Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC)
- Isaac Osuoka
Social Action
- Samson Itodo
Say No Campaign
- Chioma Kanu
Women in Nigeria
- Kolawole Banwo
National Procurement Watch Platform (NPWP)
- Akinbode Oluwafemi
Environmental Rights Action (ERA)
- Chinedu Bassey
TAX JUSTICE –Nigeria
- Mohammed B Attah
Procurement Observation and Advocacy Initiative