By Chimezie Godfrey
#TrackNigeria – A coalition of Civil Society Organizations has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) Repeal Bill that was passed by the 8th Assembly which is now before the President.
The group at a press conference Monday in Abuja, said that the legislative framework will provide a legal foundation for the implementation of Beneficial Ownership disclosure if signed into law by the President Buhari.
They added that it will lead to the establishment of the electronic web-based open Beneficial Ownership register in Nigeria.
The group pointed out that the ultimate goal of the Bill is the establishment of comprehensive database of REAL OWNERS behind the management of private companies operating within Nigerian jurisdiction.
They said: “If CAMA Bill is not signed by President Buhari this week, a decade of work will be lost and irreparable diplomatic, economic and reputational damage inflicted on Nigeria.
“We recall that President Buhari made commitments to strengthen anti-corruption reforms and join the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in May 2016 during the Anti-Corruption Summit in London in a bid to deepen institutional and policy reforms.
“One of the commitments in Nigeria’s Country Statement issued by President Buhari at the summit was that Nigeria is committed to establishing a public central register of company beneficial ownership information.
“Three years after this bold commitment and two years of implementation of OGP, there is still no Beneficial Ownership register.”
The Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Ibrahim Rafsanjani said that Beneficial ownership register will address Nigeria’s obligations towards Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
He pointed out that (FATF) efforts is aimed at promoting policies and standards that insulate global financial systems from acts of money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (Article 24 & 25).
He added that it will equally address Nigeria’s obligation under the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), and the global Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) implementation of the beneficial ownership standards in extractive sector before the 31st of December, 2019 deadline for Nigeria.
Rafsanjani said that in the absence of CAMA, Nigeria risk being suspended from the EITI initiative where it has always played an important global role and adjudged one of the best EITI countries.
“Nigeria is already under pressure from the United States, European Union and other important partners for weak compliance with anti-money laundering legislation, anti-terrorism financing and illicit financial flow.
“Sanctions will follow if rapid improvement is not achieved right now. In addition, President Buhari’s anti-corruption credentials will receive yet another blow if he fails to act on CAMA.
“We have just missed a huge opportunity to leap forward in the fight against Nigeria’s stolen wealth. The failure to enact the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) has inexplicably jeopardized the asset recovery effort, which the Executive champions with great vigor.
“I urge us to investigate who has sabotaged the signature of POCA, which has deprived Nigerians of perhaps billions of US dollars in returned assets from abroad and also within Nigeria,” he said.
He also called on the President to live up to the expectations of well-meaning Nigerians in fighting corruption by signing the CAMA Bill into law to give a boost to the commitment to fighting corruption and reassure Nigerians that the reason for which he was given this mandate in the first place in 2015 was for the fact that they believe that he will stay true to his words and curb corruption in Nigeria.
He added that if CAMA is not signed that there will be need to investigate who is sabotaging the anti-corruption agenda.
The statement was endorsed by CISLAC, African Centre for Leadership and Strategic Development, Zero Corruption Coalition (ZCC), CITAD, SOTU-Nigeria, and National Procurement Watch Platform (NPWP).
Others are the National Procurement Watch Platform (NPWP), African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), Open Alliance, BudgIT, WRAPA, and Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD).
