Beneficial ownership: NFIU, NDLEA, IDEA move to unmask real owners of corporate entities

.Say Nigeria nears threshold for global best practices

Stakeholders in the anti-corruption sector have declared that Nigeria’s fight against financial crimes might be taking a significant leap in the right direction with the implementation of beneficial ownership information.

They maintained that Nigeria is closer to meeting the threshold required by international authorities on the global practice of beneficial ownership.

The stakeholders stated this at the training for competent authorities on the use of Beneficial Ownership Information organised by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IIDEA) funded by the European Union under the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) Programme Phase II in Abuja, yesterday.

Nigerian authorities are mandating every registered company and corporate entity in the country to provide information about the persons who own and control them.

This, they said, is a critical step towards lifting the veil to revealing the true identity of a company’s beneficial owner.

For the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), the concept of beneficial ownership, though relatively new in Nigeria, can be strengthened through synergy and collaboration.

Associate Director, Intelligence and Investigation Support, NFIU, Biola Shotunde, said Nigeria is not far behind in ensuring that the veils on the real owners of companies operating in the country are lifted.

Assistant Commander, Asset and Financial Investigation, NDLEA, Ahmed Yero, said the agency is now able to identify the main players of drug trafficking and other related offences.

He lamented that powerful individuals are sponsoring drug trafficking through syndicate companies, adding that full implementation of beneficial ownership will ensure that those responsible for crimes are arrested.

Yero stated: “A lot of people are making serious money from these things and so, investigations will not be able to get to the main players except you utilise the beneficial ownership information. Work closely with all the agencies that have been identified to hold that beneficial ownership in Nigeria.

Anticorruption Program Manager, International IDEA, Emmanuel Uche, said the beneficial ownership register might not necessarily be a magic wand that would eradicate all the anti-corruption issues in the country.

Uche, however, said the effective implementation of beneficial ownership is a very critical step to lift the veil off real owners of corporate entities.