Accountant-general to assist NEITI in tracking oil revenue

The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) says it will assist the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) in tracking oil and gas revenue due to the federal government.

Ahmed Idris, the accountant-general of the federation (AGF), gave the pledge when he received the leadership of NEITI, led by Ogbonnaya Orji, the agency’s executive secretary, in Abuja on Monday.

The OAGF said the assistance would ensure appropriate remittances.

Orji had argued that the exact quantity of crude oil produced in Nigeria is unknown due to the absence of meters at wellheads and the inability to monitor deep offshore fields.

Reacting to NEITI’s claim, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) said it has a record of the exact quantity of crude oil produced in the country.

It explained that DPR has a responsibility to monitor and account for crude oil production as basis for determining government’s revenue through royalty payments by operators for sustainable development.

Following the development, Idris made the promise to provide support to effect requisite reforms in the management of Nigeria’s oil and gas revenues.

“The federal treasury will partner and give the necessary support to NEITI to achieve efficient monitoring of oil and gas revenue accruals to the government,” he said.

Idris also made a case for the integration of NEITI as an institutional partner in the federal government’s strategic revenue growth initiative.

“Integrating the NEITI into the Federal Government’s strategic revenue growth initiative will be a big leap forward in government’s vision of improving revenue collection, mobilization and identifying additional sources of revenue.”

He noted that “operating under obsolete laws has greatly hampered the activities of the Agency.”

Idris, therefore, called for periodic review of the NEITI Act and other laws that regulate the operations of the oil and gas sector to reflect current realities.

In his remarks, Orji commended the AGF for the successes so far recorded in the federal government’s financial management reforms initiatives and solicited support for NEITI activities and challenges.