The role of technology as a tool for advancing transparency in the extractive sector of the economy will come into focus for the first time ever at the upcoming Social Media Week Lagos.

The panel session tagged ‘Technology and Transparency in Extractives’, billed to hold on Thursday, February 27, 2020 at 4.00pm at the Landmark Event Centre venue of the Social Media Week Lagos, will be hosted by OrderPaper Nigeria, the country’s TAGG-Tech frontline innovator.

A statement issued by the convener of the session and Executive Director of OrderPaper Nigeria, Mr. Oke Epia, on Monday said the organisation is excited at the opportunity to host the conversation on deepening Transparency, Accountability and Good Governance (TAGG) in the extractive industries via technology.

Experts in the extractive sector including petroleum and mining sub-sectors, industry actors, regulators, and civil society organisations, will participate at the highly anticipated panel session.

“This is the first time in the history of the annual SMW Lagos event that a dedicated session on the use of technology as a tool for advancing transparency in the oil and gas sector will be hosted,” the statement said, adding that the panel promises to excite interest among the young target audience of SMW and stimulate deep discourse in the oil, gas and solid mineral sub-sectors among participants.

“The potentials of technology in advancing the frontiers of citizen engagement, education and understanding in the rather opaque sectors; and ultimately help in efforts to upscale transparency and accountability in their operations is a major inspiration for the session,” Epia said.

According to him, the recent launch of RemTrack mobile app developed by OrderPaper to track transparency and accountability gaps and their remediation in the petroleum sector as contained in the annual audits of the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) is a fine example of what role technology can play in the sector.

The statement said confirmed speakers at the panel include respected reforms advocate and technical lead of the Facility for Oil Sector Transformation (FOSTER), Dr. Michael Uzoigwe; member of the Nigeria National Resource Charter (NNRC) and renowned public policy and communications expert, Mr. Tunji Lardner; extractive resource enthusiast, Mr. Amara Nwankpa; as well as Coordinator of the NNRC, Ms Tengi George-Ikoli.

The statement quoted Ms. Tengi George-Ikoli as saying that “as the NNRC launches its flagship bi-annual report; its 2019 Benchmarking Exercise Report (BER) assessing the way in which Nigeria’s petroleum resources are managed for the benefit of the youth; the future of tomorrow, the NNRC is excited to explore ideas on how best to increase youth and civil participation through the use of technology at Social Media Week.”

Social Media Week Lagos is an annual event that features the best and brightest in the industry, government and non-governmental sectors who use the week-long period to showcase ideas, products and services that shape our contemporary world. The event hosts thousands of attendees from across Nigeria and the world and the 2020 event will be the 8th edition in a row.

The live events are amplified immensely in the cyber-space across all social media platforms, thereby presenting perceptive brands, individuals and organisations the most visible platform to tell their own stories to a global audience.

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