The Nigeria Natural Resource Charter (NNRC), a non-profit policy institute on natural resource governance, will launch its flagship Benchmark Exercise Report (BER) in Abuja today, Thursday, February 20, 2020 in Abuja. The Report presents the biennial findings from an assessment of Nigeria’s petroleum sector which covers from 2017 to 2019.

The BER, which identifies petroleum sector progress and areas for improvements, empowers stakeholders to advocate for best practices within their various spheres of work in the sector.

It assesses Nigeria’s petroleum sector against 12 perspectives to offer guidance on key decisions faced by the government, beginning with whether to extract resources in the first place, and ending with decisions that determine how generated revenue can produce maximum good for citizens. The 2019 Report provides an update on the last two years of petroleum sector governance, examined gaps in sector transparency and reported changes.

The dialogue will focus on its overarching precondition for effective petroleum resource management; determine whether Nigeria’s ‘strategy, legal and institutional framework governing the petroleum sector ‘secures the greatest benefit for citizens through and inclusive and comprehensive national strategy, clear legal framework and competent institutions.’

According to the Program Coordinator, Nigeria Natural Resource Charter (NNRC), “the release of the Report comes at an opportune time given the recent reforms instituted by the government and the omnibus reform in the form of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) being championed by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.”

He added that “the governance gaps have been well articulated in the 2019 BER and we believe that if appropriately addressed in the bill and subsequently implemented, Nigeria would have made appreciable improvement captured with a ‘green’ in areas where it largely still remains at a ‘red’.

The major focus of the dialogue will be on those areas where there have not been any forms of improvements and therefore raise some pivotal questions on whether the government encourages efficient exploration production operations, and allocate rights transparency.

It also tends to find out if the current fiscal framework enable the government realise the full value of its resources consistent with attracting necessary investment, and should be robust to changing circumstances.