EITI commends NNPC for improved accountability, transparency

The global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (EITI) on Monday hailed the improvement in transparency and accountability by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The EITI, which is a multi-stakeholder coalition of over 50 natural resource rich countries, is committed to the promotion of transparency and accountability in the extractive industries.

The group said it was impressed by NNPC’s show of commitment to its principles and objectives under the current management led by the Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari.

The EITI Executive Director, Mark Robinson, commended Mr Kyari for honouring his commitment at the inception of his appointment to promote and deepen the culture of transparency and accountability in the Corporation.

Mr Robinson hailed the NNPC for setting a good example and championing the cause of transparency for other National Oil Corporations in Africa to emulate.

As an acknowledgment of NNPC’s commitment to transparency and accountability as well as its adherence to the EITI Principles, the group has invited the NNPC GMD to participate in its forthcoming virtual workshop next month.

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In a letter addressed to. Mr Kyari, the EITI said Mr Kyari would make a presentation on the topic “Learning from Mainstreaming Disclosure Efforts.”

The workshop would explore further opportunities for making the systematic disclosure of extractive data the norm in the industry.

The EITI welcomed NNPC’s recent transparency efforts, such as the monthly publication of its Financial and Operations Reports since 2016 as well as recent publication of the Corporation’s 2018 and 2019 Audited Financial Statements (AFS).

These efforts, the EITI said, “were clear demonstrations of the corporation’s continued commitment to openness in its business dealings and operations”.

Mr Robinson noted the group’s Audited Financial Statement which showed that NNPC reduced its losses by 99.7 per cent from N803 billion in 2018 to N1.7 billion in 2019.

He said the EITI was glad that the reduction in losses was attributable to a huge increase in profit from the operations of the subsidiaries, “an indication of good practice and commitment to principles of transparency and accountability since the coming of the current management of the corporation”.

In its letter, the EITI further affirmed its support for the NNPC in tailoring monthly financial and operations reports and financial statements in line with the EITI Standard and Expectations for EITI supporting companies.

The EITI highlighted the opportunity for the NNPC “to champion discussions on upstream contract disclosures in Nigeria.”

At his inauguration, Mr Kyari promised to make opening the financial books of the corporation a cardinal aspect of his management under its Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) Initiative launched on assumption of office in July 2019 to help promote the EITI principles.