Nigeria’s beneficial ownership register is now a point of reference for many countries: CAC

The Registrar General/Chief Executive Officer of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Hussaini Ishaq Magaji, has said Nigeria’s Register of Beneficial Owners has become a benchmark for many countries.

The RG disclosed this on Tuesday during a training on beneficial ownership register for journalists and civil society organizations (CSOs) in Abuja.

He said countries are increasingly looking to Nigeria’s experience, coming to peer reviews, knowledge exchange and learning, particularly on how beneficial ownership transparency can be operationalized in practice.

“This is important. We no longer just ask what other countries are doing. Other countries are now asking Nigeria, ‘How did you do it?’ This is a significant achievement.

“And it is a responsibility we must protect. The operation of the register at the Corporate Affairs Commission has demonstrated that beneficial ownership transparency can go beyond policy documents and become a practical tool that can be accessed and used,” he said.

He said the essence of the training was important in Nigeria’s ecosystem of transparency and accountability.

Magaji said the fight against corruption, illicit financial flows, money laundering, terrorist financing and abuse of corporate structures cannot be won by the government alone.

According to him, this requires government institutions, regulators, law enforcement, media, civil society organizations and citizens to work together.

“Today in Nigeria we have three separate beneficial ownership transparency registries operating under different institutional frameworks. We have the beneficial ownership registry at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

The RG explained that their goal was to create a business environment where legitimate businesses can thrive, investments can grow and entrepreneurs can operate with confidence.