INTRODUCTION

Axiomatically, some countries with humongous levels of energy resources are bedevilled with an excruciating level of poverty, energy deficit problems, deteriorating environment, and corruption to the extent that researchers have termed them as resource-cursed. Academics, political analysts, legal scholars and international institutions have established that the publication of adequate information on how extractive resources are managed will reduce opacity and resource curse in certain situations. In the words of Geginat, ‘An institutional environment characterised by openness and transparency is of central importance not only for private markets but also for the effective and efficient management of public resources’. The reason d’etat for the latter is that openness equips relevant stakeholders and the public with relevant information to hold government and resource managers accountable for the mismanagement of extractive resources. While transparency has been recognised as a tool for facilitating effective management of extractive resources, the question of how to facilitate it is a major issue. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a conglomerate of extractive governments, civil liberty societies and companies which provides an encyclopedic standard (EITI Standard) to boost transparency and accountability in the extractive industries. It was established in 2002 and has since provided a robust governance framework to boost disclosure, accountability, and inclusive decision-making processes. Over 50 countries have subscribed to the implementation of the EITI Standards in their respective jurisdictions. Subscribing members implement transparency in their resource management by disclosing relevant financial transactions in the extractive sector and, establishing a multi-faceted stakeholders committee to oversee the implementation of the EITI Standard.

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