The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Ahmed Idris, has pledged the assistance of his office in helping the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) track oil and gas revenues that accrue to the Federal Government for appropriate remittances.
Idris made the pledge when he received the leadership of NEITI, led by its Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji.
Idris, while reacting to the NEITI request for support to effect requisite reforms in the management of the country’s oil and gas revenues, assured that the Federal Treasury, “will partner and give the necessary support to NEITI to achieve efficient monitoring of oil and gas revenue accruals to the government.”
He commended NEITI for the successes it has recorded so far, adding that the effort of the agency to entrench probity, transparency and accountability in the management of the country’s oil and gas revenues is in line with the government’s financial management reforms initiatives.
L-R: Orji and Idris
Idris made a case for integration of NEITI as an institutional partner in the Federal Government’s strategic revenue growth initiative. He also reasoned that integrating the agency into the Federal Government’s strategic revenue growth initiative will be a big leap forward in government’s vision of improving revenue collection, mobilization and identifying additional sources of revenue.
He noted that operating under obsolete laws has greatly hampered the activities of the agency, thus calling for periodic review of NEITI Act and other laws that regulate the operations of the oil and gas sector to reflect current realities.
In his remarks, Orji said NEITI was established to track revenues accruing to the government from oil and gas transactions, especially remittances of such revenues to ensure accountability.
The NEITI boss commended the Accountant General of the Federation for the successes so far recorded in the government financial management reforms initiatives, and solicited support for the agency’s activities and challenges.