The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has warned that Nigeria could lose significant foreign investment in its oil, gas and mining sectors if the country performs poorly in the forthcoming validation exercise of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Musa Sarkin-Adar, gave the warning on Wednesday in Abuja during a stakeholder engagement session with civil society organisations and the media ahead of Nigeria’s 2026 EITI Validation scheduled to commence on July 1.
Sarkin-Adar said the validation exercise was critical to Nigeria’s reputation among international investors, stressing that transparency and accountability had become major considerations in global investment decisions.
According to him, although Nigeria possesses abundant natural resources and remains one of Africa’s most attractive investment destinations, concerns over governance standards and transparency continue to affect investor confidence.
He added that the briefing was key to the validation process, clarifying stakeholder roles, and strengthening Nigeria’s readiness for what it considered a critical assessment of the country’s transparency standards in the oil, gas and mining sectors.
“Most Nigerians are not fully aware of the functions and importance of NEITI. NEITI is an enabler for investment in the oil and gas and mining sectors because our assessments and reports help guide foreign investors who want to invest in Nigeria.
“Nigeria is an investment haven. Everybody wants to come and do business in Nigeria, and I believe it is more rewarding than many other places. However, scrutiny of investments all over the world matters, and that is what NEITI is there to guarantee and ensure.
“If Nigeria loses this process, investors, particularly foreign investors in the oil and gas and mining sectors, may decide not to come and invest in Nigeria. Countries like Guyana, Tanzania and others are increasingly attracting investments because of the standards they have established,” he said.
The NEITI boss lamented what he described as inadequate cooperation from several government institutions whose support is required for the validation process.
The NEITI chief did not mince words about the lack of cooperation from key government agencies, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Budget Office, many of which, he said, fail to respond to correspondence in a timely manner.
According to him, NEITI’s role is often misunderstood by stakeholders who expect the agency to act as a regulator rather than an accountability and transparency institution.
“The fact that we are not a regulatory institution but an enabler and whistleblower is not well understood. If we choose to expose every issue publicly, many organisations would be uncomfortable. But our objective is to ensure that Nigeria remains respected globally and continues to attract investments.
“We are working towards making Nigeria richer through transparent and accountable governance of natural resources. That remains our mandate,” Sarkin-Adar added.
The executive secretary also revealed that previous NEITI audit reports showed Nigeria came close to losing approximately $`7 billion due to companies failing to meet their financial obligations and warned that a forthcoming 2024-2025 audit report would contain further significant revelations.
According to him, he would advise the government to impose heavy penalties and potentially blacklist defaulting companies.
“In previous audit reports, Nigeria almost lost about `$7bn because some companies failed to pay what they were supposed to pay. The upcoming audit report, which will be released soon, has already shown from preliminary findings that there are many issues that will require action.
“When the report is released, I will advise the government to take the necessary actions against all defaulting companies. Where necessary, penalties should be imposed in accordance with the law, and persistent offenders may even be prevented from doing business in this country,” he stated.
Sarkin-Adar further urged civil society organisations to intensify advocacy for greater transparency in the recovery and utilisation of revenues identified through NEITI audits.
He noted that although NEITI regularly identifies outstanding payments and financial infractions, the agency is often not informed about recoveries made by relevant authorities.
Punch
