Ken Okeke
United Kingdom’s Deputy High Commissioner in Nigeria, Peter Carter, has identified Nigeria’s oil and gas mining as capable of delivering transformational change in Nigeria.
He however noted that revenue from the sector has become cause of corruption and conflicts in the country but which can be reversed.
Carter was reported to have spoken at the one-day workshop, entitled: ‘Extractive Industry Dialogue on Corruption,’ organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in collaboration with the United Nation’s Global Compact (UNGC) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
He was lending his voice to speakers at the workshop who urged Nigerians to exploit existing legislatures, including the Freedom of Information Act to demand answers on revenue and expenditure from their government.
Carter noted that oil and gas mining can deliver transformational change, not only in Nigeria, but also all over the world, if revenues are judiciously utilised for the good of the people.
He said: “Last year, Nigeria’s oil export is over total net aids to the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa. “Giving information about the sale and purchase of these valuable natural resources is vital to ensure that they are properly managed and to build open economies and society.
“As we all know today, if people can see how much their governments receive from selling the resources that rightly belong to them, they can question how that money is being spent.”
Ms. Olajobi Makinwa, head, Transparency and Anti-Corruption Initiatives of the UNGC, said: “Huge revenues from these industries have often fuelled corruption, economic stagnation, inequality, conflict and so on.”
She noted that while oil multinational companies continue to record global profits, governments in resource-rich nations, such as Nigeria struggle to stay solvent.
“Discrepancies in reporting has led to host governments (including many African countries) not receiving full payment from the extractive and logging industries operating in their territories.
“Many resource-rich countries are not receiving benefits from the extraction of their natural resources; wealth is not distributed evenly and local citizens are not feeling the positive and developmental impact from foreign investment in the extractive industry.”
Mr. Ledum Mitee, noted that global rules alone cannot stamp out corruption in the sector.
He said for global legislations to be successful, local laws and system must cooperate with them and go ahead to deal with local circumstances.
Mr. Foluso Phillips, chairman of the NESG, said the oil industry is prime to transparency, adding: “It is the root of a lot of things we express dissatisfaction with as long as corruption is concerned.”