Business
EITI Seeks Stakeholders Commitment To New Standards For The Sector
The Chair of the Board, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), Helen Clark, has called on the stakeholders in the sector to show commitment in strengthening transparency and the implementation of EITI goals.
She made the call during the launch of a new standard for the extractive industries at the just ended EITI 2023 global conference in Dakar, Senegal, themed “Transparency in Transition.”
At the event, hosted by the government of Senegal at the Centre International de Conférences Abdou Diouf, Diamniadio, and which drew participants from across the globe, she said that the new standard focuses on beneficial ownership transparency as a key anti-corruption mechanism in the extractive sector.
The key players in the industry deliberated on different areas bordering on key issues plaguing the institution in promoting transparency and accountability in the extractive industry, benefits of disclosing contract from energy in the extractive and energy transition.
Highlights of The New Standard
• A new requirement to request full disclosure of beneficial ownership by politically exposed persons (PEPs), regardless of their level of ownership.
This is intended to ensure that any amount of ownership by PEPs is publicly disclosed, and if implemented effectively, will act as an important mechanism to detect conflicts of interest, for example in the awarding and management of licences.
• The Standard now encourages EITI implementing countries to adopt a threshold of 10% or lower for beneficial ownership reporting.
In extractives, a high-risk sector for corruption, it has long been acknowledged that low thresholds are important for understanding ownership, for example of a small percentage stake in a very large extractives company.
• Requirements for information to be disclosed when state-owned enterprises (SOEs) hold beneficial ownership or control. The Standard now specifies the key information that is required: the name of the state, level of ownership, and detail about how ownership or control is exerted.
Given the prominent role of state-owned enterprises in the extractive sector, when combined with the EITI requirement on PEP disclosure, this represents a significant strengthening of the potential for the EITI Standard to deliver anti-corruption impact.
• Requirement 2.6e) also encourages SOEs to disclose beneficial ownership information for their agents, intermediaries, suppliers or contractors.
•The Standard now contains additional requirements to support the disclosure of full ownership chains where beneficial ownership is held indirectly.
This comprises a new requirement to disclose the legal ownership of entities as well as beneficial ownership, and is coupled with an encouragement for companies to disclose their ownership structure and full ownership chain.
• Finally, the Standard now encourages the EITI multi-stakeholder groups to review the comprehensiveness and reliability of beneficial ownership information disclosed through stock exchange filings for listed extractives companies, although it does not require any action if the data is not found to be reliable.
This remains an issue for actors wishing to understand ownership and control in listed companies in the extractive sector, as in practice there is wide variation in the availability of information from different stock exchanges.
Together, these new developments in the 2023 EITI Standard signal the continued strengthening of the ambitions of the EITI and its work to embed beneficial ownership transparency.
The transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy took the center stage of the discussion.
Business
Truecaller adds travel eSIM to portfolio
COO at Truecaller, Fredrik Kjell, said that the launch marks Truecaller’s move into mobile data services, broadening the platform beyond caller ID and spam protection, and for the first time adding digital consumables to the portfolio.
Truecaller has launched travel eSIM in Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Malaysia, and 25 other countries, saying it is to deepen global communications among people by dismantling fetters occasioned by location.
COO at Truecaller, Fredrik Kjell, said that the launch marks Truecaller’s move into mobile data services, broadening the platform beyond caller ID and spam protection, and for the first time adding digital consumables to the portfolio.
Travel eSIM is also currently available to purchase in Italy, Sweden, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Austria, Finland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway, Chile and Indonesia.
The leading global platform for verifying contacts and blocking unwanted communication, has 500 million people already on its platform with their daily communication.
Travel eSIM extends that relationship to international travel – a category where users routinely overpay for connectivity or arrive at their destination disconnected.
Travel eSIM is a fully digital mobile data service that activates in minutes and offers plans from 1 GB over seven days to 20 GB over 30 days. Customers can buy travel eSIM in 29 markets at launch, through the Truecaller iPhone app or on the web at Truecaller.com.
Business
Nigeria’s external debt: Tinubu’s borrowing in 24 months surpasses 55 years record
He revealed that, with Nigeria’s total public debt of N159.28 trillion as of April 2026, according to the Debt Management Office, every Nigerian owes N670,000, lamenting the rapid expansion of Nigeria’s debt profile in recent years.
” The N65.9 trillion borrowed by the administration of President Bola Tinubu in the last 24 months is more than five times the total debt Nigeria incurred in the first 55 years of its Independence.”
This observation was made by Chairman of the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics LTD/GTE, Dele Oye.
Oye, who is the immediate past chairman of the Organised Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN), noted that while successive governments accumulated debt over decades, the Tinubu administration alone added N65.9 trillion in two years, compared to just N12 trillion accumulated over 55 years.
He revealed that, with Nigeria’s total public debt of N159.28 trillion as of April 2026, according to the Debt Management Office, every Nigerian owes N670,000, lamenting the rapid expansion of Nigeria’s debt profile in recent years.
Oye cautioned that unless urgent measures are taken to strengthen revenue generation and fiscal discipline, the rising debt burden could place long-term pressure on public finances and constrain government spending on critical sectors.
Cast your mind back to 2006. Nigeria had just pulled off one of the most celebrated fiscal feats in African history. President Olusegun Obasanjo paid $12 billion to extinguish $30 billion in Paris Club debt. Nigeria was, briefly, externally debt-free. The Excess Crude Account (ECA) was flush. The future looked fundable. Twenty years later, that golden moment reads like a fairy tale. Under President Goodluck Jonathan, debt crept back to N12.06 trillion by 2015, manageable, but the warning signs were already blinking. Then came the Buhari years.
“In eight years, the debt exploded from N12.06 trillion to N87.38 trillion, a 620 percent increase. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was pressed into printing money through ‘Ways and Means’ advances; N23.7 trillion of this was eventually securitised into long-term bonds, effectively converting a government overdraft into a generational liability.
“Tinubu’s administration has added a further N65.9 trillion in just two years. To put that in perspective: it took Nigeria’s first 55 years of independence to accumulate N12 trillion in debt. The present administration has added more than five times that amount in 24 months,” said Oye.
Business
Gas Marketers pleads for FG intervention over soaring price for common Nigerians
NALPGAM National President, Mr. Edu Inyang, said that cooking gas now sells between N1, 500 and N1, 700 per kilogram, the current situation has placed millions of households, food vendors, small businesses and low-income earners under severe pressure, as many Nigerians can no longer afford cooking gas for daily use.
The Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) has appealed to the Federal Government to urgently intervene and stabilise the supply and pricing of cooking gas inoder to prevent further hardships on Nigerians.
NALPGAM National President, Mr. Edu Inyang, said that cooking gas now sells between N1, 500 and N1, 700 per kilogram, the current situation has placed millions of households, food vendors, small businesses and low-income earners under severe pressure, as many Nigerians can no longer afford cooking gas for daily use.
He disclosed that marketers pay between N25.2 million and N26.2 million for a 20-metric-tonne truck of liquefied petroleum gas, depending on location.
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