Majority of 72 oil firms complied with 2019 audit – NEITI

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) said majority of the 72 oil companies and government agencies improved their compliance during its 2019 oil and gas industry audit exercise.

The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Waziri Adio, commended them while releasing the assessment report in Abuja, yesterday.

In a statement, Adio said: “The data submission compliance rate for the 2019 oil and gas audit is very impressive.

“It is remarkable not just because of the massive improvement across the board but also because this improved compliance happened with all the restrictions imposed by COVID19.

“This underscores the strong commitment of the affected companies and the government agencies. We commend them and urge them to keep it up.”

Highlights of the compliance report showed that 49 entities, representing 68 per cent of the 72 entities covered, scored 100%. While one agency scored 95 per cent, another scored 93%, four entities scored 88%, while two entities scored 75%, and two others also scored 50%.

However, three entities scored 0%, indicating non-compliance with the data collection process for the audit.

Further analysis showed that out of the 72 entities covered, 58 (81%) of them scored between 75% and above, while 66 (92%) of the entities scored between 50% and above.