The Federal Government yesterday disclosed that 70 per cent of corruption cases are perpetrated by persons who use anonymous companies and that over $1 billion has been recovered by governments using beneficial ownership data. Minister of Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, made this disclosure in Abuja at the media presentation of Nigeria’s Road to Beneficial Ownership Transparency of the 2021 Open Government Partnership (OGP) Week. Adebayo, who was represented by his permanent secretary, Dr Nasir Sani Gwarzo, also said that when the register of companies is completed it will help government in decision-making especially around awards of contract permit and licences. “It will help decision makers to quickly determine who benefits from the operations and profits of the company so as to avoid conflict of interest or manipulation,” he said. According to him, the journey to establish a public register of beneficial owners commenced in 2016 at the London Summit on Anti-Corruption where President Muhammadu Buhari joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP). “At the time of this declaration in 2016, there was no legal framework to commence the implementation of the beneficial ownership disclosure in Nigeria.

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