The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has called on international development partners to assist it to strengthen the fight against corruption in the oil, gas and mining sectors.

This is contained in a statement issued by Obiageli Onuorah, NEITI’s Acting Director of Communication, in Abuja on Tuesday.

The statement said the Acting Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, made the call at a meeting with relevant development partners and diplomatic missions.

It said that NEITI’s agenda was to transit from its focus on transparency through accountability to ensuring that its work resulted into visible impact in the lives of the citizens.

The statement said NEITI’s provision of credible information and data on revenue generation, collection had led to increasing public demands for accountability and the on-going reforms in the oil, gas and mining sectors.

It said that the support of development partners would be useful to complement the government’s budgetary provisions for NEITI operations with the crash in the global oil prices.

The statement identified automation of NEITI’s audit process, data gathering and management, capacity building for NEITI staff, the media and the civil society and wide dissemination of the audit reports as major challenges.

It extolled the virtues of the former Executive Secretary, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, and assured the donors of a solid team and structure to build on her achievements.

The statement added that representatives of the World Bank, DFID, European Union, Oxfam and major diplomatic missions endorsed the agency’s strategic plan and pledged to offer the support needed to actualise the plan. (NAN)

•Photo shows NEITI Acting Executive Secretary, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji.

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