Contextualising Accountability and Responsible Production and Consumption in the Extractive Industries of West Africa

ManyAccountabilityAfricanAfricacountriesIndustry have embraced the Sustainable DevelopmentDevelopment Goals (SDGs). However, little attention has been paid to accountabilityAccountability in relation to responsible consumption and production advocated by SDG 12, especially in the extractive industryIndustry of West AfricaAfrica. The authors critically engage with two existing accountabilityAccountability mechanisms, namely, the International Financial ReportingFinancial reporting Standard (IFRS) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to highlight their limitations in respect of accountabilityAccountability relating to SDG 12 in the extractive industryIndustry of West AfricaAfrica, using NigeriaNigeria and GhanaGhana as reference points. We also highlight the limitations of a set of indicators being promoted by the United NationsUnited Nations (UN) Conference on TradeTrade and DevelopmentDevelopment (UNCTAD) as an accountabilityAccountability mechanism for SDGs, especially responsible production and consumption. We argue that a better accountabilityAccountability mechanism for SDG 12 should prioritise those indicators that show how production and consumption in the extractive industryIndustry do not result in (1) loss of life and displacement from land for the local communities and (2) spillages that destroy the land, water and air, depriving the local communities of their means of livelihood and causing healthHealth problems.