By Odimmegwa Johnpeter, Abuja
A coordinating committee on beneficial ownership implementation in Nigeria is to be set up by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji stated this while addressing a forum of government agencies, companies, civil society, and the media on beneficial ownership implementation in the extractive industry in Nigeria. This was contained in a statement by Obiageli Onuorah, Head, Communications and Advocacy, NEITI.
He explained that NEITI was encouraged by the volume of work so far done by relevant government agencies and civil society on beneficial ownership reporting.
“NEITI will work out a joint coordination initiative with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mining Cadastre Office (MCO), NFIU, EFCC, civil society, media, and other anti-corruption agencies to help track beneficial owners of extractive assets in Nigeria”, Dr. Orji stated.
Dr. Orji’s statement came on the heels of the revelations that different government agencies have made progress at their various organizations in the development of reporting systems. He noted that Nigeria has two commitments to beneficial ownership reporting. The first is in compliance with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), while the second is in response to the commitment made by Nigeria to the Open Government Partnership (OGP).
According to him, beneficial ownership disclosure has become very important in view of the serious dangers that secret ownership of companies poses to individual countries and the global community. “Crimes like tax evasion, illicit financial flows and terrorism financing which are associated with or facilitated by secret ownership frustrates national development, increases poverty in developing countries and threaten the national security of even powerful nations”, Dr. Orji stated.
The Executive Secretary made reference to the report by ONE – an international anti-poverty organization – that developing countries lose up to $1trillion a year from such activities, noting that the figure is seven times more than the total aid and foreign debt that flow into these poor countries.
“The Thabo Mbeki report on illicit financial flows estimates that Africa loses up to $50 billion a year from some of these activities. Nigeria accounts for the lion share of these losses, with the extractive industry accounting for 93% of total illicit financial flows from Nigeria”, he stated further.
In his keynote address, the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Alhaji Abubakar Garba disclosed that the Commission has commenced collection and disclosure of beneficial ownership information from January 3, 2021, following the passage of the Company and Allied Matters Act in November 2020.
“Every information on persons with significant control of companies is now available online on the Commission website, to members of the public free of charge and in line with Nigeria’s commitment to the global EITI and OGP. This is the least we can do to support transparency and fight against corruption”, he stated.
On the integrity of information on the register, Alhaji Abubakar explained that his Commission is working to integrate beneficial ownership information into the national identity database to ensure valid and correct information. He also noted that once information is publicly accessible, the public will be able to find out if there are errors.
The Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani) in his goodwill message commended NEITI and other stakeholders that have contributed to the progress made so far on beneficial ownership disclosure in Nigeria.
Mr. Auwal noted that the enactment of CAMA 2020 has provided legal backing for the beneficial ownership transparency, but warned that “we must not, however, rest on our oars as the register is not an end in itself but a means to an end as the law is not enough to guarantee compliance. It is only a first effort in the fulfillment of the commitment to strengthen anti-corruption reforms and corporate accountability”, he stated.
Also addressing the forum from Oslo Norway, the EITI Policy Director, Ines Marques informed the audience that about 20 EITI implementing countries have undertaken legal reforms to facilitate ownership transparency, while 30 others have publicly disclosed some beneficial ownership information through EITI reporting.
According to her, “beneficial ownership information has been used to avoid corruption and loss of revenue in the extractive sector, prevent corruption and illicit financial flows, enhance revenue collection, improve the investment climate in the extractive sector and most importantly increase public trust and accountability”.
Ms. Marques advised Nigeria to integrate information on beneficial ownership into government processes and citizens should take advantage of the initiative and use the data for accountability purposes.
Stakeholders at the event outlined various initiatives being deployed towards beneficial ownership reporting in Nigeria. The Department of Petroleum Resources took participants on a tour of the portal which it has developed showing the oil and gas assets and their beneficial owners, while the NFIU has gone a step further to use financial transactions to track real owners of extractive assets. The Mining Cadastre Office said its register is at an advanced stage and will be publicly accessible.
Participants at the forum agreed that an inter-agency meeting should be held regularly by regulators, anti-corruption agencies, civil society, and the media to evaluate the implementation process.
https://any.peopleandpowermag.com/neiti-to-coordinate-inter-agencies-stakeholders-efforts-on-beneficial-ownership-reporting-of-the-extractive-sector/
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