By Michael Eboh

ABUJA — The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, yesterday, called on the Federal Government to urgently put in place  laws and policies mandating the public disclosure of real owners of companies in the country, especially in the extractive industry. The agency said this was necessary because of the threat these anonymous companies posed to the country’s economy and security.

NEITI, in its maiden policy brief, entitled: “The Need to Know Who Owns What in Nigeria’s Extractive Sector,” released in Abuja, stated that the starting place for the disclosure of beneficial ownership would be the Nigeria’s extractive sector which, despite the slump in oil prices, still accounted for the bulk of government revenues

According to NEITI, in Nigeria’s extractive industry, complex ownership structure is often the norm, where some form of ownership disclosure has already been introduced but is in need of both expansion and deepening It maintained that even when not always illegal or misused, secret companies were hardly in the interests of developing countries.

According to NEITI, the shroud of secrecy surrounding the companies is used not only to mask possible corrupt relationships with government officials but also to obscure probable links to money laundering, drug trafficking, and terrorism financing.

NEITI urged the Federal Government to lead the charge of the growing global campaign against the use of secret companies, especially as full ownership disclosure was in the best interest of Nigeria and Nigerians. It stated that full ownership disclosure had practical implication for increasing government revenues, reducing the incidence of corruption and money laundering, and cutting off funding for drug lords and terrorists.

NEITI stated:   “It is, therefore, important for the President Buhari administration to prioritize this aspect of transparency and champion policy and legal frameworks for lifting the veil of secrecy on ownership of companies in the extractive sector in Nigeria.

“Apart from Nigeria being seen to be in the vanguard of a global movement, the promotion, expansion and deepening of ownership disclosure of all companies that operate Nigeria’s oil, gas and solid minerals sector align with the change agenda and the ongoing oil sector reforms of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.”

The agency, however, explained that beneficial owners were not necessarily the same as legal owners, adding that in that beneficial owners were the flesh and blood humans who benefitted from and exercise control over the running of companies and not just legal owners.

It said:  “Building on what already exists in the NEITI audits, tapping into the growing global consensus on the need for public disclosure of beneficial owners of extractive companies, and aligning with the ongoing reform of the oil sector, and the anti-corruption and change agenda of the President Buhari administration, Nigeria can lead in this arena.

“Nigeria can and should establish its public register of beneficial owners of companies involved in exploration, production, trading, import, export, and provision of other services in the extractive sector of the country well ahead of the 2020 deadline. There is nothing that says Nigeria cannot beat this deadline by at least two years.

“Taking this leap will provide another opportunity to solidify its credential as leader among EITI-implementing countries and a champion of transparency and accountability in the extractive sector. “The campaign for knowing the real owners of the companies in the extractive sector is gathering momentum globally especially after the leak of the “Panama Papers.

‘’With the London Anti-Corruption Summit coming after the Panama Papers, the campaign for revealing the real owners of companies will stay high on the global anti-graft agenda. “Nigeria should seize this momentum, not just to ride on the bandwagon but to strengthen the fight against one of its major challenges in its most strategic sector.”

NEITI explained that the call for disclosure of beneficial ownershipwas coming on the heels of three important developments that had put the danger of secret companies on the front burner, namely the Panama papers’ leak which has revealed some of the prominent business executives and politicians across the world, including Nigerians, behind some offshore companies;

the May 12 London Anti-Corruption Summit where world leaders, including President Buhari, will gather to make commitments on stronger partnership for fighting corruption, including on how to end the prevalence of secret companies; and the requirement that all EITI-implementing countries such as Nigeria must have a public register of the real owners of all extractive companies operating in their jurisdictions by January 2020.

The NEITI Policy Brief is aimed at engendering informed debate, focusing the attention of policy makers and the populace on critical issues, and driving needed policy change in the extractive sector in Nigeria. It is one of NEITI’s newly introduced policy and advocacy instruments that will complement the NEITI annual audits.