The federal government will next month make public the real owners of oil, gas and mining assets in the country through a National Beneficial Ownership (NBO) register.
The data to be jointly launched by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), was expected to further push the country’s preparedness to shine the light on the opacity in the extractive industry.
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji and the Registrar-General of the CAC, Mallam Garba Abubakar announced this at the on-going Conference of State Parties on United Nations Convention Against Corruption in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
A statement by the Deputy Director/Head Communications and Advocacy of the initiative, Obiageli Onuorah, noted that when ready, the register would be merged with the CAC register of companies in the country.
“The NEITI executive secretary explained that under the joint inter-agency collaboration with the CAC, the NEITI beneficial ownership register filled with facts, information and data on who owns what in the oil, gas and mining sectors will merge with CAC beneficial ownership portal that covers all registered companies in Nigeria.