The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has initiated an extensive audit of the revenues of 190 oil and mining companies, aiming to enhance transparency and accountability within the nation’s extractive sector.
The agency has announced that it will be investigating the revenues of 190 oil and mining companies as part of its ongoing nationwide reconciliation and validation of revenues in the extractive industries.
According to NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya, 198 companies and government agencies have submitted information and data for the exercise.
Out of the companies, 63 are in the oil and gas industry, meeting the materiality threshold of a minimum royalty payment of $5 million, while 135 companies from the solid minerals industry met the materiality threshold of N6 million. Additionally, 14 government agencies for the oil and gas sector and eight agencies for the solid minerals sector are also covered in the exercise.
The agencies are expected to disclose all payments received and expenditures incurred during the period under review. Ogbonnaya noted that the level of participation of extractive companies in the ongoing industry audit is higher than in the last exercise conducted in 2021.
The data reconciliation and validation meetings for the oil and gas extractive companies and relevant government agencies were held and concluded in Lagos last week. A similar exercise for the solid minerals industry began in Lagos on Monday and will run until August 28, before moving to Abuja.
