‘Set continental record, reduced audit cost and time’ — 7 major feats Waziri Adio achieved as NEITI boss

In February 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Waziri Adio as the executive secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) for a five-year non-renewable term. Those five years went by in a blink, but Adio achieved in a blink what many expected to take decades.

Through those years, the extractive industry in Nigeria has become more transparent, delivering the core mandate of the initiative. NEITI has worked with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), World Bank, and many local and foreign institutions to deliver on set goals.

As the Harvard-trained technocrat bows out of office this week, TheCable takes a look at what has been his achievements in five years.

SET FRESH EITI RECORD FOR EITI REPORT

In 2020, the World Bank and  Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) commended the Adio-led NEITI for setting a new record by publishing its oil and gas reports nine months ahead of the reporting deadline set by the global body.

According to World Bank and EITI, “some reports were delayed by several years” in the past, but the new NEITI delivered in record time, meaning that those who could hold the state accountable for oil revenues – such as investors, companies, civil society organisations and the media – now received timely data.

EITI said NEITI has turned the situation around, publishing reports in a “timely and efficient manner”, and helped to identify $20 billion in recoverable income and recover $3 billion to government coffers.

MOBILISED $1.5M FROM FOREIGN PARTNERS

The Adio-led NEITI mobilised an additional $1.5 million in grants from development partners like the World Bank, Trust Africa, Ford Foundation, and the African Development Bank (AfDB). This means the initiative raised an average of $300,000 annually throughout Adio’s five-year tenure.

The body also received support from numerous respected institutions such in-kind and technical support from the UK Department for Internation Development  (DFID), MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, OSIWA, FOSTER, BudgIT, and GIZ to mention a few.

This support and coupled with judicious use of funds helped NEITI foster a stronger relationship with these organisation, ensuring that all parties can achieve more even after Adio’s exit.

ACHIEVED EITI’S HIGHEST SCORE

In 2019, NEITI, under the leadership of Adio, was named one of only eight countries worldwide to have achieved “satisfactory progress”, the highest level obtainable in implementing EITI’s standards.

Other countries to have achieved this standard include Columbia, Senegal, Armenia, Phillipines, Timor-Leste, Norway, and Germany.

Explaining NEITI’s progress, the global body said the initiative “has identified USD 9.8 billion owed to the Federal Government, of which USD 2.4 billion has been recovered through Nigeria EITI’s efforts”.

NEITI SET CONTINENTAL RECORD

In December 2019, NEITI set a record across three continents when it made Nigeria the first country in Africa, Asia, and the Americas to have an open and accessible beneficial ownership register for the extractive sector.

This beneficial ownership register allows the public to know the actual owner of oil blocks, oil and gas companies, and mining licences within the country.

According to Adio the register which is on this website contains a list of the owners of 270 licences in the mining sector, and the owners of 61 assets and 56 companies in the oil and gas sector.

Aside from setting a continental record, the register is also a fulfillment of Nigeria’s commitment to the Open Government Partnership and to EITI.

REDUCED AUDIT COST BY ABOUT 50%

In the last five years, NEITI has increased the scope of its work and carried out a lot more audits — but at a highly reduced cost. The Waziri Adio-led NEITI reduced the cost of solid minerals audits by 29.70 percent.

For oil and gas audits, the agency reduced cost by 46.17 percent, while delivering more and in record time. The audit for Fiscal Allocation and Statutory Disbursement (FASD) was also reduced by 69.89 percent.

Cumulatively, the agency under Adio, reduced total audit cost by 48.25 percent in the blink of five years.

CUT AUDIT PUBLICATION TIME BY 14 MONTHS

One of the biggest problems in the extractive sector is how long it takes for accounts to be audited and financial year results published. For instance, publishing a 1999 report in 2004 or a 2007 report in 2010 when governments have already changed hands.

In his time at NEITI, Adio, who has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, New York, and has ample journalism and deadline experience, reduced the audit publication time from 29 months to 15 months.

In the spirit of understanding the essence of time and the impact it had on policy intervention, NEITI under Adio published an average of one policy paper every seven weeks for five years.

NEITI DROVE AMENDMENT OF PSC ACT — FIRST IN 26 YEARS

Nigeria has been losing billions of dollars to archaic laws in different sectors of the economy, and the extractive sector was not spared in these losses.

As the executive secretary of NEITI, Adio undertook a financial model on the losses from maintaining a 1993 Production Sharing Contract (PSC) in 20 years on. His team found that Nigeria could earn $1.4 billion more every year if the laws were amended.

The agency, therefore, began to push for an amendment to the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract (PSC) Act for the first time over 25 years. By November 2019, the act was finally amended to earn more money for Nigeria.

As Adio takes a bow from NEITI, his colleagues say he will not only be remembered by the great feats achieved while he was at the helm, but also by the little things he did; how he led from the front, how he was prudent with government property, his punctuality at all times, and the seemingly little but compounding values that made NEITI great on his watch.

Adio has now passed on the baton to Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, who until his appointment was NEITI’s director of communications and advocacy.