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Dakar, Senegal, Thursday, 2 July 2009: The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) today in Dakar launched the West Africa Resource Watch (WARW), an institute to combat mismanagement and corruption by promoting transparency and accountability in the management of revenues in resource rich West African countries.
The report contains the outcome of studies sponsored by OSIWA and conducted in Nigeria, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Ghana, and Sierra Leone to assess the transparent, accountable, equitable and sustainable management of natural resources in the seven
countries.The goal of WARW, according to its Coordinator, Mr. Dayo Olaide, is to create “an open society where there is citizens’ participation in decision making, transparency and accountability in economic policy making and in the generation and use of public resources towards equity and social justice”:
Mr. Olaide said WARW would mobilise technical and financial resources to increase the voice of civil society, advocate for responsive use of resource revenues and strengthen key government agencies, laws and regulations that guide extractive operations and use of resource revenues.
He announced that WARW had established a Resource Documentation Centre to promote scholarly research and knowledge in critical areas of natural resource and environmental management to stimulate evidence-based advocacy among civil society organizations and promote exchanges among academics, professionals and policy makers in the sub-region.
Speaking at the occasion, the Executive Director of OSIWA, Dr. Nana Tanko, noted that most of the governments in the region that had embraced the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) are only paying lip-service to the concept so as “to be seen to be doing the right thing”.
She however said, OSIWA welcomed the willingness by companies to declare what they pay to governments as royalties and also welcomed the agreement by governments to declare what they receive as revenues from natural resources.
Dr. Tanko stressed that OSIWA was committed to building the capacity of civil society organizations and research institutes conduct research and advocacy on the issues, which are very technical, and to engage with governments. She identified WARW as a framework through which this commitment could be realized.
Presenting the report of the seven-country needs assessment, Mr. Bishop Akolgo, the Executive Director of the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) in Ghana who coordinated the research, noted that none of the countries surveyed had precise information about the quantity and quality of their natural resources and none of them also had the internal capacity to
monitor the quantities of the natural resources actually being extracted by the international companies.
He said in almost in all the cases, the natural resources were being shipped abroad for processing as there is little or no processing of the resources being done in the countries where they are extracted.
Mr. Akolgo also observed that all the countries have “stability clauses” in their contracts with the international companies exploiting their natural resources and that these clauses had made modification of the contracts to increase governments’ take during rising prices difficult. This, he said, had become particularly important because most of the contracts were drawn
up between 15 and 20 years ago when the prices of the commodities were very
low.
Besides the stability clauses, all the countries also have various generous exemptions to the international companies as incentives.
Mr. Akolgo recommended that the States should take advantage of the current high prices of different natural resources to re-visit these contracts. He urged governments to have visions of how to use extractives to transform the national economies and the society.
Dr. Tanko said WARW and the report will also be launched in each of the countries where the needs assessment was conducted.
For further information, please contact:
Dayo Olaide
Coordinator, West Africa Resource Watch
Cell: +234 806 561 2022
E-mail: oolaide@osiwa. org
By Alifa Daniel, Guardian
ANOTHER controversial decision was taken yesterday by the Senate which approved the movement of funds from the education and health sectors to the expansion of the Abuja Airport and Zuba-Abuja city expressways to a 10-lane dual carriageway from a four-lane road.
The approval was, however, not without resistance from many of the lawmakers who considered it absurd that funds from the two vital sectors were being moved.
The resolution also came despite public outcry over the neglect of education and health by the Federal Government.
On the argument by the Senate Committee on FCT led by Abubakar Sodangi that all the funds for the two sectors could not have been expended before the end of the year, Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw, maintained that there were several unresolved issues facing Education and Health Care delivery in Abuja.
In his contribution, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Ahmed Lawanin, said: “While supporting this, I want to make some observation. Education and Health services are very basic and essential and cannot wait. We cannot afford to wait till 2010 Budget.
“I think we can afford to take monies from other sectors but taking money from Education and Health is not good enough. We cannot take money from Education and Health to pay for liabilities. Liabilities can wait for 2010 Budget.”
Senator James Manager said he was not opposed to the virement, adding: “There is already N6 billion provided in the 2009 Budget for the road projects. How much of the N6 billion have been used for down payment that you need additional N25 billion. I don’t think it is wise to remove money from Education and Health.”
Senator Lee Maeba from Rivers State said: “We should be very careful with virement. It caused problems in the last Senate. This virement has a lot of controversial components. What is the contract sum, what is the duration of the projects? I see this virement as controversial. They either give us the full details or we see it as supplementary budget.”
The Senate Deputy Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, supported the expansion of the two roads but expressed reservations on where the money was being taken from.
His words: “But I am however lost, if you look at the areas where the money is being taking from, the report does not show whether what is left for those sectors would be enough for their projects and programmes for the remaining part of this year.
“I believe some projects are too critical. We cannot take money from Education and Health. Our masses come first. It is only a living being that can use the dualised roads.”
President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had last week sought the approval of the Upper House to vire (move) over N25.97 billion from some sub-heads under the Federal Capital |Territory 2009 budget.
The N25.97 billion that Yar’Adua sought for the roads was reduced by N3.18 billion by the Senate Committee on Appropriation, which Chairman, Chief Iyiola Omisore, said the funds moved from the FCT budget were drawn from funds previously set aside for 16 Departments and agencies in Abuja.
“The Senate Committee on Appropriation hereby recommends for approval the virement of N22.791 billion only from the FCT 2009 statutory Budget,” Omisore said.
From Education, N4.18 billion was deducted while from the budget for Health and Social Services, N2.1 billion was cut; and another N250 million for the purchase, among others.
Supporters of the decision to vire the amounts, like former Zamfara State Governor and Senate Minority Chief Whip, Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, observed that sectors that lost funds could get from a supplementary appropriation.
Chicago 2016 bid team Chairman and CEO Patrick G. Ryan is leading a delegation to Nigeria to lobby African countries for the granting of the 2016 Olympic hosting right to Chigaco.
The Chicago 2016 bid team will be making a presentation before the National Olympic Committees of Africa General Assembly, which meets Monday and Tuesday.
More than a dozen members of the International Olympic Committee — the official body that selects a host city — will be on hand at the event.
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The party, in a Press Statement signed by its Director of Publicity, Felix Oboagwina, said the Governor’s performance on the seat these two years showed the Ministry needed the efficiency and devotion of a full-time administrator. Read the rest of this entry » Nigeria: protests in OAU over appointment of new Chair for Governing councilLECTURERS of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile Ife under the aegis of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Wednesday held a rally on the campus protesting the appointment of Chief Abiola Morakinyo as the Chairman of Governing council of the University. Dr. Ife Adewumi, the Chairman of OAU chapter of ASUU told newsmen on Wednesday that the appointment was a violation of the Universities miscellaneous act 2003 which requires members of council to be a university graduate and be familiar with the tradition of the university system. Dr. Adewumi declared that Chief Morakinyo did not meet up with the two conditions adding that it would be suicidal to allow a person who has no knowledge of University system to be on such a sensitive position. Chief Morakinyo whose appointment was made by the Federal Government could not be immediately reached for his comments. Nigeria news: ASUU vows to continue strike actionChairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU), University of Ibadan chapter, Dr. Abiodun Aremu has told the federal government that lecturers were ready to call off the on going strike action immediately government implements the terms of an earlier agreement signed with the ASUU Speaking with reporters in Ibadan yesterday, Dr. Aremu declared that the lecturers would not shift any of the grounds contained in the 2001 agreement. Lagos news: Oppostion party condemns Governor Fashola’s education programmeOpposition party, the DPA has condemned the Lagos State for not having a clear cut on implementation of Free Education
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