The Nigeria Extractive Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has convened a stakeholder engagement session for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the Media in Abuja, as the nation prepares for its 2026 EITI Validation scheduled to commence on July 1, 2026.
The engagement held on Wednesday with the support of IDEA/RoLAC, was aimed at briefing key constituencies on 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.
Speaking at the event, NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Hon. Musa Sarkin-Adar, recalled that Nigeria scored 70% in its last validation exercise, a mark that under EITI strict pass-or-fail standard, counted as failure.
“In the academic system, when you get 70%, it’s an A. So, I wonder how 70 could be a failure,” he said. But I assure you this time around, we must get that 100%, and we’ll get it.”
Sarkin-Adar warned that the stakes could not be higher, stressing that a poor outcome risked deterring foreign investors from Nigeria’s extractive sector at a time when competing countries such as Guyana, Mozambique and Tanzania were gaining ground.
“If Nigeria loses this process, the investors, especially foreign investors in the oil and gas and mining sector, may not wish to come and invest in Nigeria,” he cautioned.
The NEITI chief did not mince words about the lack of cooperation from key government agencies, including NNPC, CBN, 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.
“Most of these places, when we write letters to them, they do not respond immediately or on time. Some of them we have to even put reminders. It’s very unfortunate,” he said, adding that NEITI’s role as an enabler and whistleblower, not a regulator, was widely misunderstood.
He 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.
Sarkin-Adar outlined a busy schedule of activities leading up to the validation. A ministerial task team engagement is planned for June 26, followed by a companies’ engagement on June 29, and a National Stakeholder Working Group meeting on June 30 to finalise templates due for upload before the deadline. An EITI validation team is expected to arrive in Nigeria from August 10 for a two-week exercise.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation and NEITI Board Chairman, Senator George Akume, who was represented at the event by South South board member, Dr Stephen Akpan, who described the 2026 validation as a common goal uniting all stakeholders, urged close collaboration with NEITI to ensure a successful outcome.
Civil society representative on the NEITI Board and National Coordinator of the Resource Justice Network, Dr. Erisa Danladi, reaffirmed civil society commitment to the process while calling for deeper community-level engagement, stronger follow up on NEITI recommendations, and greater transparency in areas such as beneficial ownership, contract disclosure, and environmental compliance.
“Validation should not be seen merely as a compliance exercise,” Dr Danladi said. “Rather it should serve as a continuous learning and improvement process in strengthening our governance system and delivering better outcomes for citizens.”
