From: Uche Usim, Abuja
Mines and Steel Development Minister, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has urged African countries implementing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to develop home-grown strategies to tackle transparency and accountability issues peculiar to their climes.
Kayode stated this, on Thursday, when he received, in his office, a delegation from the Malawi Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (MWEITI) that came to understudy Nigeria’s implementation of the EITI.
The Malawian delegation visited the Minister in his capacity as the Chairman of the NEITI National Stakeholders’ Working Group, which is NEITI’s board.
Dr. Fayemi advised Africa countries to bring their traditional notions of accountability and values to interrogate existing institutional mechanisms and frameworks while entrenching the values that will stand the test of time and ultimately influence global initiatives like the EITI and make the initiative attractive for their citizens.
“One value we can add is to make the EITI relevant to our people and the government, Dr. Fayemi stated. We joined the initiative voluntarily. We need to have our own clarity of thoughts as to what we will like to see. Annual audits are fine by themselves, but we need to make the issue of transparency tangible for those who are ultimately the victims of lack of transparency especially in the extractive industries. How does what we do in NEITI for instance sit with the African mining vision that African Union Ministers have agreed for the extractive sector in Africa.”
He advised African countries implementing the EITI to use the initiative to help their respective governments by proposing alternatives and options that support reforms in their extractive industries.
According to the minister, “Africa needs to deepen the engagements, institutionalise and internalise the EITI”.
Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mr. Waziri Adio, advised the team on the need for Malawi to put in place a legal and regulatory framework in order to sustain and safeguard the implementation of the EITI and ensure that Malawians derive maximum benefit from their God given wealth.
“Though Nigeria is a pioneer member of the EITI, there are things we want to do differently and so we see your visit also as a learning process for us”. Mr. Adio added “The advocacy strategies that we have adopted make our engagement with stakeholders unique and have seen even those who do not want to partner with us, reach out to us of their own volition. The Legislature have also benefited from our reports. You need to work with all stakeholders taking into account their various sensitivities”
At the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMFAC), the delegation was received by the Acting Chairman of the Commission, Alhaji Shettima Abba Gana.
Alhaji Abba Gana commended the delegation for identifying Nigeria’s implementation of the global Initiative as worthy of emulation.
He noted the positive role that NEITI is playing in the on-going reform agenda of the government and advised the Malawian delegation to carefully take note of the unique strategies and policies that the agency has adopted towards achieving its objectives.
The Delegation also visited the Minister of State for Budget and National planning Mrs. Zainab Ahmed who was the immediate past executive secretary of NEITI and a member of the Board of the global EITI representing Africa, the Mining cadastral office and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) where they held series of meetings with the officials.
Leader of the Malawian Delegation to Nigeria and Chairman of the MSG, Mr. Crispin Kulemeka, said they were in Nigeria to learn how the country recorded its successes and milestones in implementing the EITI.