NEITI, NNPC and The Federal Government of Nigeria: Can the tail wag the dog?

I have been  looking into the recent news report whereby the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI disclosed (for those who do not know already or simply refuse to acknowledge) that petroleum subsidy payments can fund new refineries. I am shocked that it took NEITI this long to come to that realisation. If I may ask, what exactly is in it for NEITI?

One often wonders about the official relationship between the NEITI on the one hand and the NNPC/Federal Govt of Nigeria on the other? Is NEITI an independent local offshoot of Transparency International? Or is it only a collaborative joint venture (JV) with TI, by which the Nigerian government goes through the motions of posturing on openness in its transactions whilst stubbornly retaining the extreme opacity that is the hallmark of (mis)governance here? 

Can NEITI presume to get involved in our budgeting process even in the unlikely event that we eliminate graft and adopt world-class resource allocation procedures? Should it? Much as I am vehemently opposed to the current regime of fuel subsidy, I do not understand the place of NEITI in our processes of resource allocation not to mention the important issues of whether or not we repair our refineries or build new ones. 

Is NEITI an NGO? Is there any member of the NEITI Board not appointed or at least approved by the government? Who funds NEITI? Based on its current structure, can the NEITI realistically call this government, any government, to order on any issue?  It is most unlikely that it has been able to do so in the past. From the recent celebratory mood at NEITI the impression has been created that here at last is a government (Buhari's) with which NEITI hopes to do business. I wonder if NEITI had a vote in the last election. 

Because NEITI is supposed to unearth what the government and the NNPC would rather bury deep, I get worried when I learn of a "courtesy visit to the NNPC in Abuja by a delegation of NEITI." 

The matter gets even more curious when the NNPC spokesperson comments, "As for us in NNPC, we have enjoyed an unprecedented cooperation and collaboration with NEITI in their transparency drive in the oil and gas industry.” Really?

As I inferred earlier, the relationship between NEITI and government agencies is supposed to be adversarial

and needs to stay that way. That is the only way the public interest can be served. 

I wonder if former presidential media aide Olusegun Adeniyi can provide clarifications and answers to the many questions that I have posed. He spent some time on the NEITI Board before his assignment at the presidency. I hope that he is not too busy to oblige us. Please, please let no one refer me to the NEITI website, essentially a PR portal.