02 Dec 2019

DPR plays vital role in Nigeria’s transparency ranking progress- NEITI

The latest progress recorded by Nigeria in the transparency ranking for its oil and gas industry was buoyed by improved regulation by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

Executive Secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Waziri Adio, who stated this during an official visit of Executive Secretary, Global Headquarters, Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), Mark Robinson, and other top executive staff from NEITI to the DPR headquarters in Lagos, maintained that the regulator needs to do more to raise the bar.

Nigeria is adjudged to have attained satisfactory progress in transparency, the NEITI boss maintained said, adding that his agency “could not have done it alone and a major contributor to this success and to the success of NEITI is DPR.”

He continued; “We must however ensure that we stay on that journey  and we keep raising the bar. I want to use this opportunity to say that we are together. There is no two sides, we only have one side, and that is the side of Nigeria.”

He continued: “One of the things we do is to work with institutions like you. We are happy with the work we have done with you on this beneficial ownership. We believe on or before 1st of January 2020 the register of beneficial owners in the Nigeria extractive industry will published.

“We are working with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to also get the beneficial owners of all companies in Nigeria.

“Our primary concern is the beneficial ownership in the extractive industry. Like I said, ee are confident that it will be ready by January 1st 2020.”

Acting Director, DPR, Mr. Ahmad Rufai Shakur, maintained that the Department, which he said, had transparency as one of its core values, would continue to raise the bar for the benefit of Nigerians who should be the real beneficiaries of the revenues from oil resources.
Represented by Deputy Director/Head Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), Dr. Musa Zagi, said that the DPR would do more in rooting its operations in transparency.