The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), an organization championing the cause of transparency and accountability in the global extractive industry, on Monday lauded the Nigerian state-owned oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on timely publication of its financial and other operations’ reports.
It therefore urged other public companies in the country to emulate the transparent corporate governance culture of the state-owned oil entity.
Giving the commendations when he paid a business visit to the corporation’s Group Managing Director, Mr. Mele Kyari, in Abuja, the EITI’s Executive Director, Mr Mark Robinson, was quoted in a statement issued by NNPC’s Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs. Mr Samson Makoji, as saying that the corporation “is well placed as a transparent company to promote EITI’s new standards of beneficial ownership, commodity trading transparency and contract transparency, all of which the NNPC’s GMD is strongly committed to bringing to reality.”
Robinson, who was accompanied during the visit by the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Mr. Waziri Adio and other top officials of the agency, expressed optimism that NNPC would consolidate on its current accountability culture, urging the management to share the corporation’s experience with other state-owned and private oil companies in the country.
This is even as he charged the leadership of the state-owned oil company to join the EITI family as a supporting company along with other 60 companies that have enlisted as a member of the extractive industry’s transparency proponent
Robinson recalled that Nigeria remained one of the key members of EITI, having joined the global organisation since 2004, a decision, he noted had enabled the country to benefit from its shared insights, partnerships and knowledge.
In his brief remarks, NEITI’s Executive Secretary, commended the NNPC’s GMD on his commitment to transparent commodity trading, contract transparency and mainstreaming, pointing out that the NEITI was impressed by the reports it was receiving from the corporation as they related to its operations.
Responding, Kyari maintained the corporation remained the only entity of its type globally that publishes its financial and operations reports every month and urged other companies in the country to emulate the corporation’s example.
According to him, the setting up of the NEITI, NNPC Remediation Joint Committee was a healthy development as the committee will help to bolster further the transparency culture beign championed by the corporation.
He explained: “Our commitment to accountability and transparency is not just to EITI and global companies but also to the real shareholders of the corporation. The over 200 million Nigerians are the owners of this company.
“Our priority is to be accountable to the Nigerian people who have the right to know what we are doing and doing it in the right way and to report correctly to them. I believe that the EITI processes are helping us to become more accountable to our shareholders,” Kyari added.
The NNPC’s GMD explained that the Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) programme of the corporation was a clear demonstration of its commitment to transparent contract processes, noting that all the names of the companies which won the bid for the next 12 months have been published.
Kyari pointed out further that for the Beneficial-Ownership standard of the EITI to be effective, there was need for the the global transparency organisation to engage the international banks, trading companies and all the other stakeholders of the business to display the owners of some of the companies.
He restated that the corporation’s and Nigeria’s determination to ensure transparency and accountability in the nation’s oil and gas industry, saying that President Muhammadu Buhari is steering the nation on this globally accepted norms.
