The International Board of Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) says Nigeria has attained the highest rating in implementation of its standards by member countries.

Mr Waziri Adio, the Executive Secretary Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said that Nigeria was among the countries that attained “Satisfactory Progress”, the highest rating of the board.

The other countries are Norway, Philippine, Cambodia, Colombia, and Senegal.

He said Nigeria was rated satisfactory progress in 29 out of 31 criteria, adding that it was only on two levels that it rated below satisfactory.

“For us achieving satisfactory progress on EITI validation is not a destination, it is a journey. And the journey of continuous progress continues. Nigeria will continue to raise the bar in EITI implementation,” he said.

He further said that there was the need for the impact of the rating to be felt in the industry especially using the revenue resources to improve the lives of citizens.

“The challenge now is to ensure that these high standards are maintained and sustained in NEITI’s interface with oil and gas and solid mineral sectors, in discharge of its mandate under the NEITI Act of 2007.”

“The global EITI standard is currently undergoing a review and expansion to cover mandatory disclosure on beneficial ownership, state-owned enterprise, licensing and contract transparency, project level reporting, among others”.

“NEITI is already implementing some of these standards and will deepen implementation, as important next steps,” he said.

He commended the media and all stakeholders as major contributor to the success of the rating.

Adio assured that NEITI would continue to work with all stakeholders to sustain Nigeria’s current EITI standard and ensure it lead to direct impact in the lives of citizens.

He said that Nigerian need to celebrate these milestone considering that it was the first time the country had risen to such level in international rating.

He said that the board of the EITI had expressed satisfaction with the commitment of Nigerian government to embrace openness in the management of oil and gas and solid mineral revenues through its support to work of NEITI and its audit process. (NAN)