Barrister Olusegun Adekunle, former permanent secretary, general services in the office of the SGF, and 14 other people have been innaugurated as governing board, for the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) by President Muhammadu Buhari
Buhari charged the board to preserve the noble virtues for which NEITI is known and be non-partisan and continue to dignified neutrality.
The president who was represented by Boss Mustapha, the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF),
Your mandate as the board of this organisation is to ensure effective EITI implementation in Nigeria by providing policy and strategic direction, guidance, monitoring and oversight to the EITI process in Nigeria.”
Adekunle will serve as the board’s chairman while Ogbonnaya Orji, executive Secretary of NEITI, serves as the board’s chairman secretary
Other members of the board are Bashir Bature Gafai (north-west), Iliya Gashinbaki (north-east), Godwin Akor Ogwuche (north-central), Nze Joe Ibeh (south-east), Awowo Christian (south-south) and Damilola Olawuyi (south-west).
The 15-member NEITI board include the permanent secretary, ministry of mines and steel development; executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); and the group managing director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The board also has a representative of the international oil companies (IOCs). The civil society organisations are represented by Peter Egbule while the presidents of Nigeria Mining & Geosciences Society (NMGS) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) are representing extractive industries professional unions on the Board.
This is the 5th governing board to be appointed for NEITI.