Liberia’s extractive sector is at a critical crossroads as a new set of recommendations under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) calls for urgent and far-reaching reforms to protect public resources and restore confidence in how the country’s minerals are managed.
The recommendations, outlined in the latest EITI assessment, identify major gaps in data quality, revenue reporting, licensing transparency, and oversight of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). If implemented, the measures could significantly strengthen accountability in one of Liberia’s most economically and politically important sectors.
At the heart of the report is a call to improve data quality and assurance, warning that weak verification systems continue to undermine the credibility of reported payments and revenues.
The EITI urges government agencies and extractive companies to adopt stronger controls and independent checks to ensure accuracy and completeness of information.
The report also stresses the need for clearer disaggregation and classification of extractive revenues, recommending that payments be reported by company, revenue stream, and project.
Such transparency, the report notes, would enable citizens to better track how much Liberia earns from its natural resources and how those funds are managed.
In a strong push for openness, the EITI recommends full public disclosure of mining licenses, including the complete text of contracts. Analysts say this would help expose unfair terms, prevent secret deals, and ensure that license awards follow the law.
Concerns over unreliable figures have also prompted calls for improved accuracy of production and export data.
Discrepancies between company reports and government records, the report warns, create opportunities for revenue leakage and illegal exports.
Another key recommendation focuses on beneficial ownership disclosure, urging authorities to publicly identify the real individuals behind extractive companies. This step is seen as critical in fighting corruption, hidden interests, and political interference in the sector.
The report further calls for greater transparency of state-owned enterprises, particularly regarding their finances, subsidies, and transfers to government. Without clear disclosure, the report notes, SOEs remain a major blind spot in Liberia’s extractive governance framework.
To ensure long-term sustainability, the EITI recommends mainstreaming and systematic disclosure of EITI data, integrating transparency requirements into routine government and company reporting instead of relying on periodic EITI reports.
Finally, the assessment highlights the need to update data on the informal and artisanal mining sector, which supports thousands of livelihoods but remains largely undocumented. Better data, the report argues, would improve policy decisions, revenue collection, and community development planning.
With natural resources playing a central role in Liberia’s economic future, observers say the government now faces a clear choice: implement these reforms and strengthen public trust, or risk continued opacity and lost opportunities in the extractive sector.
