The Nigeria Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has reiterated its position on the removal of fuel subsidy, saying such move will free the country’s economy from bondage.
Dr Orji-Ogbonnaya Orji, the Executive Secretary, NEITI made this assertion on Tuesday in Abuja at the stakeholders National Extractive Dialogue (NED) 2022 on how to make natural resource benefits work for all.
The stakeholders’ dialogue was co-hosted by NEITI and Space for Change (S4C), a Civil Society Organisation and supported by Ford Foundation. Orji said that the agency would soon release a research policy advisory on the cost of fuel subsidy to the country, and that the publication would outline facts and figures to reinforce NEITI’s position on the subsidy removal.
He said that the removal of fuel subsidy would free the country’s economy from bondage, benefit the poor majority and possibly hurt the few affluent who were currently rich in the subsidy transactions.
He said that the dialogue was important because the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) 2019 required implementing countries, including Nigeria to disclose any transaction including licensing that were granted and amended.
“It will also requires disclosing the terms and conditions for the exploration and exploitation of oil, gas, or minerals from January 2021,” the executive secretary said.
He said that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 also mandated Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to publish the texts of any new license, lease or contract, or amendment immediately following the granting or signing of such texts.
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