FG to publish names of actual owners of oil and gas company owners Dec 12

Waziri Adio, executive secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), says the federal government will publish the beneficial ownership register for the oil and gas industry on December 12.

The beneficial ownership register is expected to contain information on the actual owners of the extractive industries companies, irrespective of the names of those who manage them in trust for their principals.

NAN reports that Adio was addressing journalists after a meeting with Mark Robinson, head of the international secretariat of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), who is on a working visit.

Adio said that the meeting was organised for journalists and civil society groups to exchange views on EITI implementation in Nigeria, and the ongoing reforms in the oil, gas and mining sectors.

Adio was represented by Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, NEITI’s director of communications and advocacy.

In his remarks, Robinson commended Nigeria for the effort it was making to ensure transparency in the oil and gas, mining sectors operations.

Robinson said the group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) informed him that the corporation was looking into remediation that had been reoccurring in the NEITI audit reports.

Also speaking, Dieter Bassi, NEITI’s technical director, said that NNPC had been very helpful to the watchdog organisation in its operation.

He said that there were community development agreements that had been signed by the companies and there were always issues about who signed on their behalf.

According to Bassi, NEITI’s reports cover revenue from the minerals sector however, there are limitations to accessing the location of illegal miners, so the reports concentrate on companies that make regular payments.