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The Petroleum Industry Act 2021 was passed to remedy the failure of the Petroleum Act, it commercialized the NNPC and established new regulatory agencies. It also aimed to solve the age-old problem of oil-bearing communities being devastated by the activities of oil companies through the establishment of the Host Communities Development Trust (HCDT). The host community development provisions in the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (PIA) is a well-known topic amongst stakeholders in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. The reason for this is not far fetched as before the PIA, there were no laws imposing host community development obligations on oil and gas companies but chapter 3 of the PIA in S.235 mandates the incorporation of the HCDT which will be a corporate body able to sue and be sued aimed at fostering sustainable prosperity in host communities and encouraging peaceful coexistence between licensees and host communities. It goes on to mandate the contribution of three percent of the total annual expenditure of the ‘settlor’ to the trust. The HCDT is to be established, specifically, to address the developmental needs of the oil-bearing and impacted communities in the region, and while it is commendable, it creates certain challenges. Below are some of the gains and perceived challenges that can arise from the act.

The UNGP provides a framework for companies to report on their human rights record while chapter 3 of the PIA mandates it. The PIA by its provisions is complementary to the principles of the UNGP and although the development and implementation of the National Action Plan have been slow, the passage of the PIA and its eventual implementation will go a long way in influencing human rights records within the industry. 

The Gender Policy represents CODE’s commitment towards gender equality. The Gender Policy provides guidance on how Connected Development (CODE) intends to mainstream gender equality, equity, and social justice in organizational practices, policy formation, campaigns, project development and implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. The policy is based on the human rights-based approach that seeks to improve the rights of children, women, and men to ensure full participation and equal benefits from democratic processes. The human rights-based approach focuses on those who are marginalized, excluded, or discriminated against. Read More

We have now published the status of COVID Fund tracking in Malawi, Kenya and Cameroon

The COVID19 pandemic was expected to have a devastating effect on Africa’s weak health infrastructure, but it rather left a more devastating trail economically – spiking the already high unemployment rate and plunging the country into another recession.

With high influx of donations by international agencies, individuals and private organisations to combat the deadly virus, the challenge with most African countries is the lack of transparent and accountable systems that can respond to emergency situations.

Our experience has shown rounds of crisis profiteering, creating quick rich schemes for “tenderpreneurs” in a restrictive environment that lacks accountability and civic engagement. We have also seen restriction of civic spaces under the guise of lockdowns as well as brutality by state officials, this was why the COVID-19 Transparency and Accountability Project (CTAP) was launched to promote accountability and transparency through the tracking of COVID-19 intervention funds across 7 African countries. 

The project is implemented by CODE’s Follow The Money and BudgIT. Both organizations have been leveraging their Tracka and Follow The Money platforms, as well as international chapters in other six focus African countries to activate a Pan-African tracking system for all COVID-19 funds received and donated to these countries.

CTAP’s shared long term vision is that every community in the continent has skilled, sensitised and largely self-organising citizens engaged in budget-tracking while presenting feedback and results to the government and development partners in a constructive manner. All efforts are aimed towards building that informed and engaged citizenry – a movement of factivists –  in the medium to long term period. 

In the past year since the project was launched, Follow The Money has tracked COVID funds in Kenya, Cameroon and Malawi. Click to read the full reports from these countries.