Efforts to promote transparency and accountability in the extractives sector of the economy have received a boost as the body of civil society in Nigeria is set to launch a mobile application to track the remediation of issues contained in the annual audit reports of the Nigeria Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

The mobile App, RemTrack, which was designed and developed by OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative in collaboration with the Civil Society Steering Committee (CSSC) of NEITI, will be presented to the public on Tuesday, December 3, 2019 in Lagos to mark the formal commencement of public engagement of the tool.

The public presentation will be performed by the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mr. Waziri Adio, and assisted by other dignitaries. Stakeholders from companies, civil society, the media and the development community are expected at the event.

RemTrack is a technology-for-development intervention built to organise the audit reports into user-friendly data on remediation issues, progress and outcomes of reconciliation, and the covered entities. The app is designed for android and apple devices to be used in mobile phones and other hand-held devices.

The App has been made available for download from the Google Play and iOS App stores respectively and also has a web interface (www.remtrack.ng) as well as purpose-built environment at the back-end for covered entities to interact on issues with NEITI per the audit reports.

RemTrack is a global innovation being the first of its kind throughout the world conceived to foster the implementation of the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) process in Nigeria. The App clearly aligns with the drive of the global body to encourage the use of data and technology to promote the key objectives of transparency and accountability in the extractives sector of all implementing countries.

The App is built to be simple enough to provide easily relatable information for the ordinary user who is uninitiated in oil and gas as well for experts and industry players steep in the operations of extractives. In other words, while it will cover all relevant technical details for the deep minds in the sector, it also assures of functional public engagements for the general citizenry.

Among several other benefits, the app will stimulate informed and healthy public engagement in the extractives sector, enhance evidence-based advocacy by civil society, provide a window of automating the NEITI audit process among covered entities, aid legislative oversight, and foster investigative journalism.

The unveiling of the RemTrack App broadens the opportunities of the civil society and the citizens to track key findings and recommended in NEITI reports, the process of implementation and how the impact feeds into the on-going overall reform agenda of the extractive industries. This is a major civil society contribution to deepen NEITI process in Nigeria.

The ultimate objective of the RemTrack intervention is to stimulate the resolution of pending remedial issues for the sake of ensuring that the benefits of Nigeria’s huge extractives resources impact positively on the lives and living conditions of citizens.

The RemTrack app has come into being after over a year-long period of consultations and co-creation driven by OrderPaper and the CSSC.

The Civil Society Steering Committee (CSSC) of the NEITI Board serves as the interface between the civil society constituency and other stakeholders within the NEITI implementation process. It is currently made up of 15 members as provided for in the NEITI Act 2007, representing community based organisations, professional groups, media, the labour movement, women and youth groups, community based organisations and persons with disabilities. It serves as the voice of civil society and citizens, mobilises participation, disseminates information and promotes debates on issues within the extractive sector.

OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative is a civil society organisation with a mandate on policy-related, especially legislative engagements that expand the frontiers for good governance and deepening of democratic practice. The core aspiration of OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative is to expand the civic space and amplify the voices and participation of hitherto under-served and under-represented interests in the political process in a manner that makes for inclusiveness.

The App is the second technology-for-development tool developed and deployed by OrderPaper, the first being ConsTrack, a mobile that tracks public projects implementation and the execution of constituency projects of legislators in Nigeria.

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