By Obiabin Onukwugha
Stakeholders have called for the amendment of the Nigerian Mineral Mining Act, 2007 to curb corruption in the sector.
They said the amendment is important to incorporate Contract Transparency Principles in the law.
The stakeholders spoke at a one–day workshop on Cost of Corruption organised by BudgIT in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Thursday, November 28.
Speaking on Contract Transparency, Executive Director, Citizens Advocacy Centre, Mfon Gabriel, stated that corruption has subjected the Nigerian masses to extreme poverty and deprived them of a bright future.
He noted that the workshop was important to strengthen the fight against corruption in the extractive sector, pointing out that so much goes down the drain as a result of illicit financial deals.
Gabriel emphasised that the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) needs to make a regulation that can provide people easy access to the contracts that are awarded in the upstream sector.
For the downstream oil and gas sector, he stated that the Mainstream/Downstream Regulatory Authority equally needs to publish the contracts they award to refiners as well as people importing petroleum products into the country.
“For the mining sector, there is need to amend the Nigerian Mineral Mining Act 2007 as well as incorporate Contract Transparency Principles in that amendment.
“Also, this is a call for the Nigerian Mining Cadastre Office to also publish and upload contracts documents, licenses, leases that they give out to companies in their portal,” Gabriel said.
He described the impact of corruption as mis-governance and loss of revenue.