By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
In continuation of Nigeria’s commitment to implementing a public register of Beneficial Owners of Corporate Entities operating in the country, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved Nigeria’s membership of the Beneficial Ownership Leadership Group (BOLG).
The approval follows the continuous support of the President for beneficial ownership in the country which includes the signing of the repeal and re-enactment of Companies and Allied Matters Amendment Act (CAMA) 2020 which made clear provision for collection and publication of Beneficial Ownership information.
Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba announced this while declaring open the 15th Steering Committee meeting of the Nigeria Open Government Partnership held in Abuja on Tuesday.
He pointed out that this is in line with the Corporate Affairs Commission and the Nigerian OGP National Steering Committee to continue with the implementation of the mandate to design, develop and establish the public Register of Beneficial Owners of companies in Nigeria.
The BOLG is a group of countries working to drive global policy shift towards free, open and beneficial data. Its members collectively drive greater beneficial ownership Transparency through publicly access Register across a diverse range of countries thereby creating a new global norm.
According to the Minister, Nigeria has made significant progress in advancing the Beneficial Ownership reforms in the last few years, arguing that “the progress is significant considering the enormous challenges “we have had to overcome to get to this point, with due credit to His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari”.
Agba further explained that the BOLG membership will allow the Corporate Affairs Commission to access technical assistance and peer learning opportunities from this Group of countries and partners working on the global adoption and implementation of the Beneficial Ownership Register.
The Minister who doubles as the Co-chair of NOGP disclosed that Nigeria is already enjoying benefits from the Group, “including receiving $400,000 in funding support from the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Multi-Donor Trust Fund Managed by the World Bank”.
He said, “Nigeria’s effort in the implementation of Beneficial Ownership Transparency won the 2021 OGP Impact Awards for Africa and the Middle East.
On behalf of the Nigeria OGP National Steering Committee, I welcome this approval and commit to providing all required support for the design, development and deployment of the full register that meets the best global standards”.
He stated that Tuesday’s meeting was the last meeting for me him and my Co-Chair on the other side, adding that “hopefully and it is an important one for us for two reasons – We are at the end of the implementation cycle of the Second National Action Plan; and Some of us would move on to other endeavors, while some would be assuming new positions in the next Governance & Leadership Sub-Committee”.
He therefore appealed to the incoming Co-Chairs to correct the setbacks encountered in the implementation of NAP II, in the third National Action Plan which would commence in a couple of months.
“May I equally invite you to take a critical look at the NAP III document before you and make valuable inputs that will enrich the process. Please draw heavily from your experiences in implementing NAP II and make informed inputs into the draft NAP III. We expect a new NAP devoid of the challenges witnessed in NAP II implementation.
“For me, our greatest success would be the successful institutionalization of OGP principles in Nigeria. We have done so much to this effect, let me plead with us all to make concerted efforts to sustain this feat. Today in Nigeria, 23 out of the 36 states have keyed into the OGP and this also includes AMAC in the FCT. Some of these have finished their first State Action Plans and have commenced the second, while others are still implementing their first”, he added.
The out going Co-chair (Non-State Actors), of the NOGP is Dr. Tayo Aduloju; State Incoming Co-chair for State Actors is Minister for Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare; the In-coming Co-chair for Non-State Actors, is Mrs. Nma Nnaobi.
