Nigeria’s Progress on Transparency

The Revenue Watch Institute, an Open Society Institute grantee and partner, held a discussion with two leaders in Nigeria’s effort to reform transparency and management of natural resource revenues. Participants offered first-hand perspective on the struggle to promote transparency and stability in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, and insights insto the impact of the global financial crisis on resource-rich African countries.

Speakers

• Dimieari Von Kemedi, head of the Due Process and e-Governance Bureau for Bayelsa State, Nigeria, and chairman of the Bayelsa Expenditure and Transparency Initiative, a cooperation between local government, civil society, and industry launched by Bayelsa State with support from Revenue Watch Institute.
• Asume Isaac Osuoka, director of Social Action, which promotes citizen engagement on energy, mining, trade, and investment issues that affect human rights and local livelihoods.
• Alexandra Gillies, PhD candidate in international relations at the University of Cambridge. Her dissertation research examines the political economy of oil sector reform in Africa, with a focus on Nigeria.
• Antoine Heuty, Revenue Watch senior economist, moderated the event.