Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has called for the harmonisation and centralisation of beneficial ownership information in Nigeria as part of efforts to strengthen corporate transparency, accountability and the fight against illicit financial activities.
Registrar-General of the Commission, Hussaini Ishaq Magaji, SAN, made the call on Tuesday in Abuja at a training session involving media practitioners and civil society organisations.
Magaji said the fight against corruption, illicit financial flows, money laundering, terrorism financing and the abuse of corporate structures could not be left to government institutions alone.
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According to him, effective efforts against such activities require collaboration among government institutions, regulators, law enforcement agencies, the media, civil society organisations and citizens.
He explained that Nigeria’s corporate legal and regulatory framework identifies beneficial owners through the concept of a Person with Significant Control (PSC).
“In Nigeria, however, our legal and regulatory framework captures this concept through the term ‘Person with Significant Control’ — PSC. This is the terminology recognised within our corporate legal framework.
“Nigeria has the Persons with Significant Control Rules, 2022, which provide the framework for the disclosure of persons who ultimately exercise significant ownership, control or influence over companies and other relevant entities,” he said.
The CAC boss explained that although the terms beneficial ownership and PSC may differ, they pursue the same objective of identifying the natural persons who ultimately own, control or significantly influence companies and other corporate entities.
He noted that while a company’s records may contain the names of directors and shareholders, the individual exercising ultimate ownership or control could be different from those whose names appear directly on the corporate documents.
“A company is a legal entity, but behind every company are human beings. A company may have directors and shareholders whose names appear on its corporate records. But the person exercising ultimate ownership or control may be different from the person whose name appears immediately on those documents.
“In simple terms, there may be a legal owner on paper and the real person behind the corporate structure,” Magaji said.
He said the PSC framework was designed to remove such layers of complexity and make the ownership and control of companies more transparent.
According to him, beneficial ownership disclosure should not be seen merely as a bureaucratic requirement but as an important tool for promoting transparency, strengthening corporate accountability and preventing the misuse of companies for illicit purposes.
“We want to know the human being behind the corporate structure. And that is why beneficial ownership disclosure is not merely a bureaucratic requirement. It is an instrument for transparency, corporate accountability and the fight against illicit financial activities,” he stated.
Magaji disclosed that Nigeria currently operates three separate beneficial ownership transparency registers under different institutional frameworks.
He identified the Beneficial Ownership Register maintained by the CAC, beneficial ownership information relating to entities operating within the Free Trade Zones under the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), and beneficial ownership information in the extractive sector maintained under the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) framework.
While acknowledging the statutory basis for the separate arrangements, the CAC Registrar-General said the information being sought across the various registers was substantially similar.
He said the fundamental questions remained the same: who owns an entity, who controls it, who benefits from it and who is the natural person behind the corporate structure.
Magaji, therefore, raised concerns about the continued existence of beneficial ownership information in separate institutional systems, arguing that Nigeria should move towards a harmonised and centralised national framework.
“Do we continue to operate separate islands of beneficial ownership information, or do we move towards a harmonised and centralised national architecture?” he asked.
“My position is clear: Nigeria should work towards harmonising and centralising beneficial ownership information within a coordinated national framework, with the CAC corporate registry serving as the central corporate data backbone.”
He stressed that the proposed centralisation was not aimed at taking away the statutory responsibilities of NEPZA or NEITI but rather at creating a system that would enable relevant institutions to connect and access information more effectively.
“This is not about taking away the legitimate statutory responsibilities of NEPZA or NEITI. It is about connecting the dots. It is about ensuring that the Nigerian beneficial ownership ecosystem speaks with one voice, one standard and one level of transparency,” he said.
Magaji argued that beneficial ownership information should not remain fragmented across different agencies if the country was serious about improving transparency and accountability.
According to him, companies operating across multiple sectors and regulatory environments could become difficult to track if information about their ownership structures remained in separate institutional compartments.
“Transparency works best when information can be connected,” he said.
The CAC Registrar-General added that the Commission’s role extended beyond maintaining a corporate register, describing the beneficial ownership framework as a key component of Nigeria’s broader corporate governance, transparency and anti-corruption reforms.
He said the objective was to create an environment where legitimate businesses and investments could thrive while making it increasingly difficult for corporate structures to be used for corruption, money laundering, terrorism financing and other illicit activities.
“Transparency is not an enemy of business. Transparency protects legitimate business. It protects honest entrepreneurs from being associated with fraudulent entities.
“It strengthens investor confidence. It supports law enforcement. It improves Nigeria’s international standing. And importantly, it helps government protect public resources,” Magaji stated.
He urged the media and civil society organisations to support efforts aimed at strengthening beneficial ownership transparency and ensuring that corporate structures were not used to conceal the identities of individuals involved in illicit activities.
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