By Emmanuella Anokam
Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, Executive Secretary, NEITI, in a statement on Thursday said the ongoing nationwide audit of the oil, gas and mining industries being conducted by NEITI was currently at the data reconciliation stage.
According to him, the exercise which is covering 2021 period is covering 168 extractive companies and relevant federal agencies.
Orji explained that the objectives of the reports were to establish the quantities of minerals produced, utilised in the country and the quantity of crude legally or illegally exported or stolen.
He said NEITI reports also sought to establish the revenue paid by oil, gas and mining companies and how much of such revenues were actually received into government coffers.
“Other areas of focus by NEITI are to identify investments made by the Federation or the Federal Government in the oil, gas and mining industries, track subsidy payments, company remittances and liabilities,’’ he said.
He explained that the processes followed in business various transactions especially the basis for computation and remittances of all revenues payable to government such as taxes, royalties and rents were equally of interest to NEITI.
He said that a total of 66 oil and gas companies and 14 government agencies were covered and currently working with NEITI in the sector audit.
The executive secretary said that the level of cooperation by companies and government agencies covered by the audit were encouraging.
“From the preliminary reports I have reviewed, 62 companies fully complied with detailed information and data as contained in NEITI templates/checklist while we await full compliance by only four companies.
“In the Solid Minerals Sector, 102 companies are undergoing through the NEITI Audit. The exercise which has reached advanced stage has recorded full compliance by 92 companies while NEITI is following 10 companies very closely.
“NEITI audit in the solid minerals industry is reviewing information and data on revenue streams, distribution of revenues, licensing process including register and allocation of licenses.
Other areas were information on beneficial ownership and the status of contribution of the solid minerals to the economy.
“Other areas of interest include trend analysis of production volumes data, royalty payments, export destinations of Nigeria’s solid minerals, the sector relevance shaping economic policy,’’ he said.
On the Fiscal Allocation and Statutory Disbursement audit, he said NEITI was examining revenues received from oil, gas and mining producing states and statutory relevant government agencies and the utilisation of such revenues for development projects.
In this particular NEITI audit, he said nine states and 14 Federal Agencies were covered.
He listed the states as Gombe, Nasarawa, Rivers, Delta, Anambra, Bayelsa, Imo, Kano and Ondo adding that out of the nine states, only two were yet to fully provide NEITI with relevant information and data. (NAN)
