The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, on Friday, announced its readiness to partner with Environmental Rights Action, a leading civil society organisation, on the management of oil and gas emissions.
NEITI in a statement issued in Abuja said it would sign a Memorandum of Understanding with ERA to deepen civic engagements on environmental justice in managing oil emissions and gender issues, particularly in the extractive industries’ host communities.
It said the MoU would cover public education and enlightenment, civil society policy advocacy, capacity building on control of toxic and poisonous chemicals such as Carbon Monoxide, Methane and other pollutants resulting from oil and gas exploration in host communities.
NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Ogbonnaya Orji, disclosed this at a meeting with a delegation from ERA, an organisation based in the Niger Delta.
The organisation is known for promoting environmental justice in oil-producing communities.
Orji welcomed the interest shown by the organisation to collaborate with NEITI in addressing the identified issues, adding that the new focus of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative globally was on environmental justice, energy transition, climate change and gender equity.
He emphasised the importance of dialogue, constructive civil society engagement, and policy-based discussions among the government, extractive industry companies and diverse stakeholders.
Orji noted that those areas required partnership with civil society organisations.
He further explained that to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing energy sector, NEITI recently unveiled a five-year strategic plan that took those issues into consideration, as the agency would soon commence the process of reviewing its enabling law.
The NEITI boss urged the non-governmental organisation to carefully study the research publications on environment and gender recently launched by the organisation with the support of the Ford Foundation.
