The signing of the Companies and Allied Matters Amendment Act (CAMA) 2020 into law is a journey that began in May 2016 at the London Anti-Corruption Summit where President Buhari committed to tackling corruption head-on by ‘taking steps to ensure transparency of the ownership and control of all companies involved in property purchase and public contracting’.The new law expressly requires companies operating in Nigeria to disclose beneficial owners above a certain threshold and gives legal backing to the implementation of Nigeria’s commitment to establishing a public register of beneficial owners of corporate entities in its Open Government Partnership (OGP) 2019 – 2021 National Action Plan.

While the signing of the law is a milestone, it is only the beginning of a long journey to building a technologically viable structure for tackling corruption. The fight against corruption will require building capacities in our institutions and processes, as well as collaboration between government, citizens, and bilateral partners to ensure that the needs of all stakeholders are captured and met.

On our part, we will continue to provide policy and legal framework that will help Nigeria meet the commitments contained in our National Action Plan.

Nigeria welcomes the support of the OGP Support Unit through the OGP Multi-Donor Trust Fund Grant of $500,000 to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for the development of an electronic register of beneficial owners.

I want to renew the commitment of Nigeria’s OGP Multi-Stakeholder Forum – National Steering Committee – to ensure full implementation of the register using this grant and I look forward to working with the CAC in the building of the register.

Signed

Prince Clem Ikanade Agba

Minister of State, Budget and National Planning