The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) have strengthened their partnership to enhance transparency in tax remittances and revenue disclosures.
They also ensure the effective use of funds for tertiary education development in Nigeria.
During a recent meeting at NEITI’s headquarters in Abuja, both agencies emphasized the importance of credible data access and strict tax compliance.
NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, highlighted concerns about remittances by extractive sector companies and the need for improved accountability.
He reiterated NEITI’s role in monitoring payments from the oil, gas, and mining industries, particularly the Education Tax that forms a major revenue source for TETFund.
TETFund’s Executive Secretary, Arc. Sonny Echono, expressed the Fund’s intent to collaborate with NEITI to access data on accruals to TETFund, ensure tax compliance by extractive companies, and promote revenue transparency to eliminate discrepancies between company payments and their disclosures to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
He emphasized that such information would enable TETFund to expand its support for the infrastructural development of Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
The meeting concluded with an agreement on a joint initiative to train TETFund stakeholders, tertiary institutions, and key policymakers on principles of transparency, accountability, and public finance management in line with global best practices.
Furthermore, NEITI and TETFund will collaborate on dissemination and engagement efforts with stakeholders, especially the academia, to conduct in-depth analyses of NEITI reports, extractive revenue flows, and their correlation to eradicating poverty and institutionalizing sustainability practices within Nigeria’s socio-economic environment.
Arc. Echono was accompanied on the visit to NEITI House by Directors and other Management Staff of TETFund.
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