NEITI audit : Groups restate call for transparent investigation of report

By Stephen Oladele

Community Outreach for Development and Welfare Advocacy CODWA has reiterated it’s call that an independent, transparent, and comprehensive investigation into Nigeria’s extractive sector audits must be conducted.

The organisation in a statement issued by its Executive Director, Taiwo Otitolaye, said that no agency should be above scrutiny and that no report should be beyond verification.

The CODWA restated the call against the background of an alleged failure of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to defend it’s 2021 audit report before the Senate committee which wants to rely on the reports to excited  it’s probe.

The CODWA noted that it and another civil society group, Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Nigeria has in November 2023 raised the alarm over the credibility and integrity of NEITI’s 2021 Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report. 

It said the two organisation  issued a public statement calling on the Presidency and the National Assembly to investigate the agency over allegations of attempted falsification of its own audit report. 

It however noted that NEITI  allegedly swiftly denied the allegations and defended the report as “accurate”

Otittolaye, in the statement, said that in 2021, the two organisations were part of the audit review and validation process and discovered that the audit report indicted the NNPCL. 

He said a few weeks after the validation, NNPCL however issued a press release stating that NEITI had absolved it of the indictment.

He said while the organisations saw the press release from NNPCL as illogical, and a windy claim, they found it surprising that NEITI was quiet in response to the NNPCL public statement but only spoke after the public statement of the two civil organisations

“Today, August 4, 2026, the chicken has come home to roost. The Nigerian Senate’s probe into the same audit process has suffered a major setback as key agencies — including the Central Bank of Nigeria, NDDC, NUPRC and NEITI — failed to appear before the Senate. They have effectively “disappeared” from accountability.

“In 2021, we were part of the audit review and validation process and discovered that the audit report indicted the NNPCL. But a few weeks after the validation, NNPCL issued a press release stating that NEITI had absolved it of the indictment.

“We saw the press release from NNPCL as illogical, a windy claim, and the voice of an entity long known for huge corruption.

“Surprisingly, NEITI was quiet in response to the NNPCL public statement, only to come out of its cocoon after our own public statement. 

“On the ongoing Senate probe, NEITI itself — the agency that produced the audit reports which the Senate Committee now wants to rely on to execute its probe — failed to appear and defend its report. 

“This is more troubling, and an abdication of responsibility!

“Does it mean that NEITI does not have confidence in the integrity of its own report?

“What is NEITI trying to portray to the global community?

“What this means:

“1. Truth is constant.* What civil society flagged in 2023 is what the Senate is confronting in 2026.

2. Accountability cannot be optional.* When institutions meant to ensure transparency evade oversight, public trust erodes and resource governance suffers.

3. The people deserve answers. Nigerians have a right to know how revenues from oil, gas, and solid minerals are being managed, audited, and accounted for.

“We reiterate our 2023 call: An independent, transparent, and comprehensive investigation into Nigeria’s extractive sector audits must be conducted. No agency should be above scrutiny. No report should be beyond verification.

“We are not vindicated by anger, but by the fact that institutions are finally being forced to answer the questions civil society asked 3 years ago,” the statement reads.