In August 2000, Nigeria and STP agreed on the joint development of resources in the area covering 34,000sqkm and on the 21 st of February 2001 a treaty was signed for the Joint Development of Petroleum and other resources in the overlapping area of their respective maritime boundary claims. Key provisions of the treaty stipulate the states to jointly develop the resources of the zone under administration of the Joint Development Authority (JDA) with Nigeria getting 60% of proceeds, whilst Sao Tome gets 40%. The treaty also empowers the JDA to supervise activities related to the development of petroleum resources in the JDZ and the JDA reports to the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) which has overall political responsibility for the JDZ.
In a bid to make the Joint Development Zone a unique model for cooperation between African countries, the Governments of Nigeria and STP on the 26 th of June 2004 signed a Joint declaration primarily aimed at mainstreaming transparency and good governance in the JDZ in line with Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative ( EITI ).
In furtherance of the above, the NEITI Secretariat in partnership with the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) now invites the general Public to a Regional Stakeholders Forum on oil licensing in the Gulf of Guinea with a view to developing a Road Map, in collaboration with Civil Society and wider Stakeholders, for the mainstreaming of EITI principles into the Nigeria STP JDZ.
1st JDZ/NEITI/CSO Stakeholders Forum - 12th October 2006
