NIGERIA ranks the least country among 9 countries in Sub- Saharan Africa with the worst managed Sovereign Wealth Fund based on accountability, transparency and oversight.

The countries examined in the report include Nigeria, Botswana, Ghana, Uganda, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, Gabon and Chad.

This was revealed in a report titled “Strong laws, Poor implementation characterize African resource sector” released on Monday by the Natural Resource Governance Institute, NRGI, Africa office based on data analysis from the 2017 Resource Governance Index.

The ranking was done based on three major indicators – oversight, transparency and accountability. These indicators are critical areas necessary to reduce opacity and secrecy in the oil and gas sector.

The NRGI report stated that the Nigerian government had failed to regularly disclose, publicly, the government officials’ financial interests in the extractive sector or the identities of beneficial owners of extractive companies, despite making commitments to do so as well as making public deposits and withdrawals from the Excess Crude Account.

The Excess Crude Account (ECA) is a special account kept by the Nigerian government where revenues realised from the sale of crude oil above established crude oil benchmark price, set annually in the federal budget, are saved.

The 2017 RGI index, assessed 33 countries with the sovereign wealth funds that collectively manage at least $3.3 trillion dollars in assets.

Nigeria was placed in the joint bottom position alongside the Qatari Investment Authority as a country whose government discloses almost none of the rules or practices governing deposits, withdrawals or investment of the ECA.

The Nigerian Sovereign Fund weakest scores are associated with excessive risk-taking, high management fees and politically motivated investments, according to the report.

“With a glut in oil prices, this means dwindling revenues which constitutes a critical challenge for the Nigerian government which depends on 90 per cent of revenues from oil,” the report states.

READ MORE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/nigerias-excess-crude-account-is-most-poorly-governed-in-africa-ngri-report/