Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, says President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime will conclude the development of the Nigeria Beneficial Ownership Register before the end of 2021 to boost transparency.

Mr Mustapha disclosed this on Monday in Abuja during the 2021 Open Government Partnership (OGP) Week for ‘Nigeria OGP Steering Committee and Corporate Affairs Commission.’

A beneficial ownership register is an official record of names or items held in a database of a company.

He said OGP was an international multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving transparency, accountability, citizen participation, and responsiveness to citizens through technology and innovation.

Mr Mustapha added that the register would give access to company ownership information to the government, companies, and citizens.

“It will constrict the space in which corruption and criminal acts can occur and end the use of anonymous shell companies to facilitate these activities,” he said.

Mr Mustapha stated that Mr Buhari, in 2016, pledged to establish a “public central register of company beneficial ownership information in the country” at the joining of the OGP.

The OGP is to tackle corruption by putting in new laws and improving existing laws to strengthen institutions and prevent incidences of corruption.

Mr Mustapha said to help stakeholders implement the beneficial ownership register, a team from the Federal Ministry of Justice and CAC, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative understudied the United Kingdom open register of people with significant control in companies.

Following that, Mr Mustapha said the government realised the country needed to review its Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 to provide legal authorisation to collect information about the beneficial owners registered entities.

“We immediately set out the process of amending the law by repealing and re-enacting the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, which was signed into law by the President in 2020.

“CAC also revised the Annual Returns Form to provide a section with which registered companies will disclose beneficial ownership information in their filing with the commission,” he said.

(NAN)