Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and PWYP Nigeria visit their Niger Republic counterpart

Niamey, 14 June 2011: There is no doubt a sound legal framework in the management of natural resources revenue is fundamental to avoiding the resource curse. It is on this premise that the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and the Publish What You Pay Nigeria (PWYP) visited Niamey, the capital city of the Republic of Niger to share their knowledge and experience on best practices on the management of Natural Resources Revenue with the three components of the EITI Niger Republic (Civil Society, Operators and Government) through Policy and Legislative Advocacy.

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre and the Publish What You Pay Nigeria strongly support and laud the giant stride of CSOs activities that contributed greatly to the compliant status recently won by Niger EITI.

We highly commend the Advocacy efforts of CSOs and other actors particularly their input to the new Nigeria constitution which is evidenced in article 153 that mandates government to invest in Agriculture, Education and Health. Strategic in this constitutional demand is the creation of a fund basket for the wellbeing of future generations.

Observations:

• That the present government has the Political will to address ill-practices and processes that leave room for corruption in the Management of the Extractive Industries Revenue.

• That Civil Society’s participation in the EITI process in Niger is effective.

• That in Niger, utilizing the political space provided by its present government, CSOs have made reasonable input to policies, laws and regulations affecting the extractive industries. Remarkable among such inputs is the enactment of a petroleum industry revenue law that allows for 15% derivation to natural resource host communities. However, CSOs still decry the effective implementation of this constitutional provision.

• That the Niger’s National Assembly intensifies its oversight function in the Extractive Sector.

• That there is commitment from the Minister of Mines and Energy, Mr Foumakoye Gado, he maintained that there is a willingness to work with members of the civil society. He informed us of the plans of government in relation to the Mines and Petroleum Sectors in the coming years which is geared towards reducing the negative impact of resources in Niger Republic.

• That the Minister of Justice and Spokesperson of the Government of the Republic of Niger is highly committed.

• That the Niger Republic government makes provision for the sustenance of the EITI in its annual budget and also create space for CSOs participation in all its activities from formulation to implementation.

• That Extractive Industries activities have not had any positive impact on the local community e.g. Toroti, a resource rich home to Manual Extraction and Purification of Gold. The Mayor of Toroti, Madame Rabi Ganda informed us that the community has received minimal benefit from the Extraction of Gold, while the same activity impacts on Human and Environment considerably; especially the uncontrolled use of cyanide to separate gold from other properties.

• That there is health implications of the use of cyanide for purification and separation of gold from other components and impurities on the environment, livestock and local inhabitants of the resource host community who have resorted to drinking cement as an immediate panacea.

• That the multinationals make profit without taking into cognizance the cost of making such profit.

• That there is a paucity of regulators of some industries such as gold.

• That some Extractive Industries Operators currently do lack respect for Environmental and Human Rights.

Recommendations:

• Good governance must be in place and political drivers must abide by the principles of transparency, accountability and popular participation; this was demonstrated in the statement of the President of the Parliament of Niger Republic, His Excellency Hama Amadou when the Nigeria Team visited his Excellency. He stated that “there is a political will to fight corruption in the country; this is why the government is committed to strengthening institutions and systems with inputs from Civil Society Organisations.

• We call for greater regulation in this respect, particularly as it concerns the issuance of license and method used in extraction and purification of gold. There is need to move from artisan methodology to a more efficient and healthy methods.

• Respect for Human and Environmental rights in the conduct of business, especially, as it concerns Extractive Industries where fall outs of Extractive activities are hostile to human health.

• We denounce the destabilizing activities of multinational companies and other interest groups in African countries, particularly in resource rich countries as Nigeria and Niger.

• We call for greater accountability and transparency in the Extractive sector, as well as a strong political will to fight corruption.

• We advised both governments (Nigeria and Niger) stringent measures should be put in place to control abuse of Human and Environmental rights in the Extractive Industry as well as engaging with the resource host communities prior to and during negotiations for issuance of license for explorations.

CONCLUSION

CISLAC/PWYP –Nigeria thank the EITI drivers in Niger Republic who have received us, and also encourage them to continue to sustain the EITI principles and criteria as they learn from the Nigeria experience of oil and gas revenue management, even as Niger Republic looks forward to the oil and gas sector.

Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre is grateful to Oxfam Novib for its support to ongoing project “STRENGTHENING NEITI PERFORMANCE THROUGH GREATER INFORMATION DISSEMINATION; CAPACITY BUILDING AND ADVOCACY INITIATIVE”

Signed:

ALI IDRISSA
National Coordinator, ROTAB-PWYP-NIGER-Republic

AUWAL MUSA RAFSANJANI
Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre Nigeria

Ms. FAITH NWADISHI
National Coordinator, Publish What You Pay Nigeria