According to the benchmarking exercise report carried out by the Natural Resource Charter to provide an assessment of the governance of Nigeria’s petroleum wealth, says gaps remain in the institutional and legal frameworks of the oil and gas sector hence deteriorating domestic refining capacity over the past few years makes the reduction of petroleum product imports less likely. Experts explained that there is need to for the government to take steps to implement a gas commercialisation programme to reduce gas flaring and emission levels.
Speaking on the local impacts, experts says, no remarkable changes have occurred since the 2017 benchmark exercise report. Adding that there is need for Key legislation to ensure participation of communities, protect the environment, mitigate costs, respect rights, and ensure that communities benefit from extractive projects which suffered setbacks in the period. They laments that, government agencies responsible for enforcing compliance with regulations are still performing below average; and the mechanisms to ensure community trust is gained, are largely ineffective principally on account government institutional weaknesses.
Adding that, there has been significant improvements in the efforts by international community in promoting upward harmonisation of standards to support sustainable development in resource countries. While the 2017 the NNRC report noted lack of enforcement mechanism in the standards promoted by the international community, the 2019 Benchmarking Exercise Report (BER) revealed significant efforts at ensuring compliance of resource projects to international best practices and standards with mechanisms to monitor implementation.
While emphasize on the resource revenue distribution which remain skewed in favour of the current generation. Explaining that the share of capital expenditure is low and the debt–revenue ratio has increased to 293%, exceeding the 250% level recommended for optimal fiscal sustainability. This development implies a high financial burden for future generations. The existing fiscal frameworks are comprehensive and emphasise long-term fiscal sustainability.
