The launch of the @nigeriaeiti Benebficial Ownership Register is a massive MASSIVE deal. The various times I have discussed it with @Waziriadio, I could only see how hard it would be to achieve. I have to do a thread to explain what it is and why it is such a big deal. Thread...
You see, Legal Ownership is different from Beneficial Ownership. A legal owner of a company is the person registered with CAC. As we all know, that person may just be a front. When public servants award contracts to themselves, their names are never on the company’s CAC register.
However, they are the person benefiting from the contract. In effect, although they are not the legal owner, they are the beneficial owner. If you lift the veil covering the face of the company, they are the people you’ll see. BVN has made it easier to trace beneficial owners.
Many developed countries are still struggling to set up a Beneficial Owners Register. Nigeria opted to start with the hardest, most opaque sector: OIL! There was a commitment in the Open Government Partnership National Action Plan that Nigeria will achieve this by 2020.
Many, including me, thought it was quite ambitious. As we have now done it in the Oil sector, there is no reason not to do it in all other sectors. We need to know who is really benefiting from every single company. It would have a wonderfully positive impact on transparency.
See enh? If @Waziriadio doesn’t achieve anything else in his tenure as Executive Secretary of @nigeriaeiti, this singular achievement is more than enough to assure his legacy in that office. Well done, my brother. I am so proud of you. 👍🏽 End.
