After taking a retrospective look at the situation that prevailed before Senegal joined the ITI in 2013, four former members of this institution recalled the achievements, before formulating a certain number of recommendations, for a “strategic repositioning » of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, after ten years of implementation in Senegal.By Dialigué FAYE –
In the implementation of the Itie Standard (Initiative for Transparency in the Extractive Industries), Senegal has made significant progress.
But, “in view of its transversal position and the central role of data in the planning and monitoring of public policies, Senegal could benefit much more from this beautiful institution that is the Itie, whose inestimable value of the data provided cannot be overstated. is matched by its contribution to the governance of the mining, oil and gas sectors, and even to the steering of the country’s economic policy. This is the opinion of four former members of Itie. Through a text of which Le Quotidien had a copy, El Hadj Amath Diallo, former representative of the private sector at Cn-Itie, Abdou Aziz Diop, former representative of Civil Society, Dr Moustapha Fall, former head of Legal Affairs and Cheikh Tidiane Touré , former Permanent Secretary, advocate for the strategic repositioning of the ITI.
Indeed, they explain, “to fully realize its potential, the EITI must not confine itself to the production of reports intended to monitor the requirements of the Standard. Likewise, it cannot continue to endure the debate on the extractive sector in the face of an increasingly demanding public and an engaged press.
These co-authors consider that the Itie “can play an advisory role for the State in the contract review processes; strengthen the analysis of global EITI requirements (declaration of beneficial owners, disclosure of costs and reserves, analysis of budgetary scenarios, etc.); help in the implementation and monitoring of funds that Senegal is struggling to implement; ensure monitoring of investments made from intergenerational funds; identify the reforms to be implemented to strengthen regulation, avoid social conflicts or address emerging challenges linked to oil and gas exploitation, etc.
In addition to broadening the scope of companies and reporting entities allowing the State to have a global vision of the sector, the EITI can be a framework for dialogue with administrations also making it possible to raise investors’ concerns.
Such orientations, they say, “would only be possible if the new authorities considered the following measures: transforming the structure of the EITI into an independent administrative authority with an obligation to submit detailed and current reports on the evolution of dynamics the oil, gas and mining sector; institutionalize the ITI as a consultative body and as a key partner for the ministries (Mines, Finance, Environment) in the evaluation of extractive public policies; promote partnerships with the National Assembly, research communities and Centers of Excellence for innovation and the testing of pilot projects involving communities. In addition, these former members of the ITI suggest to the government, “to use the resources offered by the ITI mechanism in the service of the new strategic vision of the extractive sector oriented towards maximizing socio-economic benefits both at the national level and ‘on a regional scale; expand the scope and impact of collected data by incorporating predictive analytics mechanisms to anticipate industry trends (e.g. revenue streams or infrastructure needs). This could be done through partnerships with research institutions such as Ansd; to use the EITI to capture added value and sustainable development.
On the achievements of Senegal’s adherence to the Itie Standard, they recalled the fact that the country can “evaluate its texts and its practice in the light of international good practices, offering an opportunity for benchmarking with more than 50 countries . After ten years of implementation of the EITI and despite mainstreaming efforts, the EITI remains the leading source of quality information on the extractive sector (company payment, production and export data, declaration of the authorities). financial, statistics on employment and transactions with suppliers, contribution to GDP, etc.); which helps to strengthen public debate.”
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