Communique issued at the end of a 2-day National Multi-Stakeholders Workshop

Communique issued at the end of a 2-day National Multi-Stakeholders Workshop on strengthening civil society engagement in Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) organized by Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Nigeria held at Grand Central Hotel, No. 1 Bompai Road, Kano.

Date: January 30 to 31 2018.

1. Preamble

Determined to involve critical stakeholders in moving the activities of EITI forward, Publish What You Pay (PWYP), Nigeria organized a two-day multi-stakeholders workshop on strengthening the Civil Society engagement in EITI standards.

Participants were drawn from the Civil Society Steering Committee members of NEITI, the media, academia, professional bodies, NEITI, and PWYP members across Nigeria. Also, in attendance was the EITI International Board member, Faith Nwadishi.

In an opening remark, Mr. HarunaHadejia, PWYP North West Zonal Coordinator welcomed participants and expressed appreciation for their ability to travel a long distance to participate in the workshop. That shows how important they value the work PWYP does.

2. Objectives of The Workshop

The workshop had the following core objectives.

1. To improve civil society participation in EITI processes.
2. Engage EITI process and trickle it down to communities.
3. Improve multi-stakeholders’ involvement in the EITI process

3. Areas of Priority

At the workshop, participants identified areas for core advocacies in the EITI validation process in Nigeria. They are;

1. Accountability of all transactions in the extractive sector.
2. Data accessibility.
3. CSO participation.
4. Contract transparency.
5. Community engagement.
6. Gender and extractive

4. Observations

At the workshop, participants made the following observations.

1. It is difficult to achieve contract transparency in the extractive sector in Nigeria. Although, there are legal frameworks that regulate contracts in the industry, however, they are not always complied with.
2. Nigerians find it difficult to know the exact quantity of crude the country produces.
3. Oil theft is not limited to illegal refining, IOCs have been found to be culpable of oil theft in Nigeria.
4. At the moment, EITI application standards in Nigeria are faced with numerous challenges.
5. CSOs and citizens often concentrated on transparency, without adequate attention on accountability. Experience has shown that transparency alone does not deliver good governance, it must come with accountability.
6. CSOs do not engage the mining community enough
7. Royalties on Solid Minerals are paid based on the quantity sold instead of quantity produced.
8. Metering of the crude oil lifted is difficult, the IOCs give us any figure they choose

5. Recommendations
6. Government should ensure that citizens know the exact quantity of crude produced and lifted daily.
7. Besides transparency, environmental and human rights issues must begin to dominate discourse around EITI standards.
8. The civil society needs to demand accountability alongside their strong demand for transparency.
9. CSOs should make sure all facts are crosschecked and are correct before engaging in advocacy.
10. Host communities should be directly involved extractive contracts negotiations.
11. Host communities should participate in developing Community Development Agreements (CDAs).
12. In mining, child rights protection must be giving utmost priority henceforth.
13. Environmental impact audit should be participatory.
14. There should be standard of measurement for solid minerals.
15. There is the need to amend the constitution to allow states co-own and manage solid minerals in their domains.
16. Governments harmonize and address the issue of double taxation in the mining sector.
17. Unlicensed miners should be formalized, form cooperatives and obtain licenses to mine.

6. Endorsement

Mr. Egbule Peter: National Coordinator, PWYP-Nigeria
Mr. MuttakaUsman: a professor of economics, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) representative in the NEITI Civil Society Steering Committee.

Miss. Barala Bashir: Media, Freedom Radio, Kano.