Abstract
Oil and gas governance entails the formulation of policies and the continuous oversight of their effective implementation by relevant regulatory and governing bodies. The fundamental purpose of such oversight is to promote accountability, transparency, and good governance within the extractive industries. In Nigeria, however, persistent challenges such as corruption, weak institutional oversight, and opaque financial practices have undermined the effectiveness of governance in the petroleum sector. One of the most pressing issues is the information gap between extractive companies, the government, and citizens, whereby the latter remain largely unaware of the actual revenues remitted to the state from oil and gas operations. To address this deficit, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was established globally in 2003, and subsequently, Nigeria domesticated this initiative through the establishment of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) in 2004, with its operations later codified under the NEITI Act of 2007. This paper employs a doctrinal research methodology to undertake a critical appraisal of the NEITI Act 2007, with the aim of identifying its strengths, weaknesses, and areas of deficiency. The analysis reveals that although the Act represents a significant step toward improving transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s extractive sector, it contains numerous loopholes that hinder its effective implementation. These include definitional ambiguities, weak enforcement mechanisms, jurisdictional inconsistencies, and the absence of strong citizen-empowerment provisions. Based on these findings, the paper concludes that while abolition of the Act may not be justifiable, substantial amendments are imperative to align the Act with international best practices, strengthen enforcement, and ensure its objectives are fully realized. The study ultimately recommends a comprehensive review and amendment of the NEITI Act as a necessary step toward entrenching transparency, accountability, and sustainable governance in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
Keywords: Governance, Extractive Industry Company, Transparency, Accountability.