The Executive Secretary of the Initiative for the Transparency of the Extractive Industries of Nigeria (Neiti), Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, said that the agency was collaborating with the Commission of Economic and Financial Crimes to recover around $ 6 billion and another 66 one billion naira that the interested parties of the oil industry owed to the federal government. sector.
Dr. Orji revealed this on Monday while defending the 2025 budget before the Committee of Oil Resources, Upstream of the House of Representatives.
He explained that the agency had already submitted all its reports on the extractive industry to Parliament to take additional legislative measures.
He affirmed that the agency was created by the federal government to enthrone transparency and accountability in the Nigeria oil and gas sector, as well as in the mining sector, and added that the agency received a budget of 6.5 billion Naira For the financial year 2025.
Dr. Orji In addition, some of the critical activities of the agency in 2025 will include the realization of industrial reports of the oil, gas and mining sector, as well as fiscal allocation audits and legal disbursement, research studies on real volume of PMS consumed in Nigeria. The economic impact of the energy transition in Nigeria and a national perception survey on the implementation of the EITI in Nigeria.
Only from their 2020 and 2021 reports, he said, more than 3.7 billion dollars were recovered in government coffers as pending liabilities of companies operating in the oil and gas sector in the country.
However, members of the Oil Resources Committee of the House of Representatives, UPSTREAM, questioned the agency for repeating budgeted items by 2024, while including items that are not justifiable in the current economic situation of the country.
In his speech, Hon Kafilat Ogbara (APC, Lagos) said that most government ministries, agencies and departments should ensure that what they present to Parliament as a budget complies with the items specified in the budget and not only see the annual budget . as a money appropriation ritual to obtain its own national cake.
He asked why the agency will budge 32 million Naira for meals in the 2025 budget when Nigerians are going through difficult times and said: “There is no way to spend that amount of money on meals in a year.
According to her, “most of our MDAs must ensure that what they present as a budget proposal really coincides with the item and purpose for which these funds are desired. Let's not simply see the defense of the budget, since the money is there and should share it. So, let's see how to get our own part. ”
Also co-corner, Hon in Amboin Kuye (APC, Lagos) said that when preparing the annual budget, government agencies must take into account the country's economic situation and added that the impression of Nigerians is that the National Assembly is a seal of rubber and approve everything that brought them government agencies.
“We are all aware of the situation in the country and we must be circumspects and prudent in our expenses because the general feeling is that the National Assembly is only a rubber seal and what they bring is what we approve and that is not then.”
The president of the Committee, Alhassan Ado Daguwa, also criticized the language used by the agency in the preparation of the budget and the inclusion of the National Assembly among the beneficiaries of its well -being package.
Hon Doguwa said that since the committee was established, he has not visited the supervision agency, wondering why they will be included in such well -being package, and added that the only welfare that the Chamber expected of them was the welfare of the Nigerian people.
“While I agree that the budget stops in our desk and you are simply presenting a proposal, I would like to say that the economy is wrong and the population we are here is crying. Government agencies must be aware of what they spend with public resources.
“All these proposals will be spent at the expense of the Nigerian people. Sometimes we come to make presentations here that sound funny and very insulting in the eyes of the people. When you say in your projection things as a social assistance package, report on ex-gracia, medical insurance, social assistance packages for staff and some critical stakeholders during social assistance packages. ”
However, he assured that the Committee was willing to support the agency in the fulfillment of its mandate, saying that its agency is critical and that the legislature does not appreciate the work it is doing.
“We will definitely try to support it as much as possible, provided that it can justify the reasons for an expense or another. Then the legislature will have no choice but to support it and provide the auspicious financial environment so that it can fulfill its duties and mandate ”.