The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on Thursday unveiled the owners of 270 licences in the mining sector through what it called ‘Beneficial Ownership Register.’
The NEITI’s Beneficial Ownership Register revealed the names of owners of the 61 assets and 56 companies in the oil and gas sector. The Beneficial Ownership Register can be accessed at bo.neiti,gov.ng
Making the public presentation of the Beneficial Ownership Register (BOR), the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr. Waziri Adio, said with the Register, at the touch of a button, one could access the owners of oil and gas assets in Nigeria through the Internet. He assured that the organisation would continue to update the Register, adding that the register was done in compliance with EITI transparency directive and should not be misinterpreted negatively.
Some of the owners and their shareholding according to the BO Register are as follows: Aiteo Eastern Exploration & Production Company Limited, owned by Aiteo Energy Resources Limited 84 per cent with Benedict Peters, a Nigerian, owning one per cent; Taleveras Energy Resources Limited, a Nigerian owns five per cent; Tempo Energy Nigeria Limited, a Nigerian owns 10 per cent; Agip Energy (Eni International) 95 per cent, Eni Oil Holding five per cent; Atlas Petroleum owned by Prince Arthur Eze 60 per cent, Mr. Okechuckwu 6.3 per cent; Walter Chukwuozor 33.6 per cent; Belamaoil, Mercy Jack 2.3 per cent; Frontier Oil, Rotimi Dose 5.1 per cent; Dubri Oil (Messrs: Catherine Jos 33 per cent, DIL Company Limited 21 per cent, Uduimo Associates 16 per cent, among others.
Adio said: “In a short while, the beneficial ownership register for the extractive sector in Nigeria will go live. At the touch of a button, anyone with internet access can find out, for free, the owners and the ownership structure of extractive assets that are in production in Nigeria.
“These are the assets covered within the scope of the NEITI audits. In this free electronic register, you will find the owners of 270 licences in the mining sector, and the owners of the 61 assets and 56 companies in the oil and gas sector.
“The register will continuously be updated as more information becomes available and will periodically be upgraded to allow for better user-interface,” the NEITI boss said, stressing that there should be no cause for panic over the register as it was not anti-businesses.
“Let me say this upfront. This beneficial ownership register is not against businesses. Rather, it is for the good of businesses as it is for the good of countries and it is for the good of civil groups, the media, and individuals. So, there is nothing for anyone, especially anyone engaged in legitimate businesses, to be jittery about,” he said.
Adio said the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC ) BO register, which will have ownership information of all the companies operating in Nigeria was in progress.
The NEITI BO register, Adio said is a precursor to these larger registers that are still being built. He added that the NEITI BO Register will feed and fold into these larger registers when they are ready.
The NEITI boss said the register was a pilot starting from a sector that was historically known for opacity and distrust.
Commenting on the essence of the register, he said: “Knowing who-owns-what, especially in a sector given to opacity, is a significant development. It is also a win-win. It is good for resource-rich countries like ours.
“It is good for the citizens of such countries. And it is good for legitimate businesses. Ownership transparency advances the frontiers of transparency and accountability in more than symbolic ways.
“It is a practical and potent tool that countries can use to tackle the potential ills that hidden ownership usually mask, such as tax evasion, corruption, conflict of interests, illicit financial flows, money laundering, and even drug and terrorism financing.”
Adio, who noted that BO Transparency was one of the hottest issues across the globe at the moment, said that EITI-implementing countries were expected to start implementation of BO disclosure by January1, 2020.
EU countries, according to him, are expected to have BO registers in place by January 10, 2020 and the BO registers in EU countries are expected to be integrated into one database by March 10, 2021.
“Our country needs more openness, not less. We need to also embrace the fact that this will be a continuous process. The register to be unveiled today will not be perfect. While we continue the search for perfection, we should also not make the perfect the enemy of the good. “ (The Nation)
