By Obas Esiedesa

The Federal Government has expressed confidence that Nigeria will achieve a perfect score in the 2026 validation of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), with the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Musa Sarkin Adar, declaring the country fully prepared for the exercise.

“We are ready for them. Nigerians are very resilient people and very brilliant people. We are not afraid of their coming, and I assure you this time around, we must get that 100 per cent, and we will get it,” Adar said during an engagement with civil society organisations and the media, organised by NEITI and Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption in Nigeria (RoLAC) in Abuja

He said the administration of President Bola Tinubu remained committed to implementing EITI standards and sustaining Nigeria’s membership of the global transparency initiative.

According to him, NEITI has intensified engagements with key institutions to address outstanding corrective actions, holding bilateral meetings with the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Federal Inland Revenue Service, Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) and other agencies.

Adar added that NEITI had also met with the EITI International Secretariat and Nigeria’s validation team to review timelines and assess readiness, while urging civil society organisations and the media to actively participate because their contributions would form part of the assessment.

“If Nigeria loses this process, the investors, especially foreign investors in the oil and gas and mining sectors, may not wish to come and invest in Nigeria,” he warned, stressing that EITI compliance has become a critical benchmark for investors seeking transparency and accountability in resource-rich countries.

Also speaking, CSO representative on the NEITI board, Dr. Erisa Danladi, said the validation process “enables civic actors to take stock of collective achievements, identify existing gaps, and explore practical ways of strengthening transparency, accountability and good governance within Nigeria’s extractive sector.”

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