‘Mineral resources must be properly harnessed for national development’
The government has been called upon to create the right political and economic environment that will ensure that mineral resources are properly harnessed and utilised for national development.
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The Deputy Director of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), Mr Emmanuel Kuyole, who made the call, observed that it took the right institutional structures that had the right capacity to translate those resources into assets for economic growth.
“The country needs citizens and civil society organisations (CSOs) that have the capacity and ability to appreciate issues to hold managers of the proceeds of our natural resources responsible so that we can derive the full benefits of those resources,” he added.
Summer oil and gas Management school
Mr Kuyole was speaking at the opening session of a two-week course on the management of oil, gas and mineral resources, organised by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) in collaboration with the German Development Corporation (GIZ) in Accra last Monday.
The 45 participants were drawn from 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and comprised persons from various fields of expertise, including industry players, the academia, media, policy makers and traditional rulers.
The course, which is the sixth in the series since it was first held in 2009, is meant to equip participants with the understanding of issues relating to the extractive sector so that they will be in a better position to engage policy makers and demand accountability on the management of resources.
They will be taken through topics such as geology, contract management, economics, tax regimes, local content and issues of transparency and accountability.
Extractive sector is key
Mr Kuyole observed that the extractive sector played a significant role in national development, for which reason there ought to be a proper management regime by duty bearers in order to ensure sustainable development.
In that regard, he urged Ghana and other nationals to build the capacity of their human resource so that they would be able to make meaningful inputs to improve the management of revenue that accrued from natural resources.
Citizen participation
For his part, the Team Leader of Good Finance Governance Programme at GIZ, Mr Henri Gehauer, said bad governance and corruption on the part of the managers of oil and gas revenue stalled socio-economic development.
He, therefore, urged the citizens to “get interested in how public resources are managed, since it forms the basis for job creation and economic development.”
Mr Gehauer asked for inter-agency collaboration to properly police the oil and gas purse, saying that was the best means to enhance accountability.
Judicious use of resources
The Omanhene of the Mpohor Traditional Area in the Western Region, Osabarima Kwaw Entsie II, who is himself a participant, called on the current generation to make judicious use of the natural resource in order to sustain it for the future.
Osabarima Entsie II, also a member of the Public Interest Accountability Committee (PIAC), urged the participants to harmonise the ideas and experiences from their respective countries to ensure uniformity in the management of the extractive sector across the sub-region.