The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has successfully completed the first leg of stakeholder sensitization on the use of Beneficial Ownership Register (BOR).
The CAC Head of Media, Mr Rasheed Mahe, made the disclosure in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
“The journey to building Africa’s first BOR began seven years ago with Nigeria making a commitment to the world during the 2016 London Anti-Corruption Summit.
“At the summit, Nigeria pledged, among other things, to open a publicly-available beneficial ownership register of corporate entities.
“The CAMA 2020 heralded a new beginning, as work on BOR began in earnest, scaling through extensive development and testing in line with global standards under the guidance, supervision and support of the World Bank, ” he said.
According to the official, a ground-breaking event for the inauguration of BOR took place in Abuja on May 25, followed by a well-attended three-day multilateral peer exchange review workshop.
He said the workshop ended on June 9, with participants from South Africa, Uganda, Germany and the United Kingdom, among others, paying a study visit to CAC’s headquarters.
Mahe said that many of the participants commended the performance of the commission, describing it as a shining example for African countries.
It added that, on July 12 in Abuja, the Alhaji Garba Abubakar-led CAC flagged off a training workshop on the use of BOR as a component of the project.
He said that the initiative was supported by the World Bank.
“The training drew participants from the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, Special Control Unit against Money Laundering, Securities and Exchange Commission, civil society organizations and journalists, among others.
“Similar engagements were held in Lagos on July 25 and in Kano on July 27, recording huge turnouts of stakeholders,” he said.
According to him, the training equipped the stakeholders with a live demonstration of BOR.
“Based on the successes recorded with the inauguration of Africa’s first BOR, more countries are now aiming to replicate the milestone achievement in their jurisdictions.
“Kenya and Malawi, among others, are in the queue of countries expected to commence study visits to the CAC in a bid to develop their own versions of BOR.
“In view of the reforms carried out by the CAC under the dynamic leadership of the present registrar-general, the Corporate Registers Forum (CRF) has penciled the commission for an international award,” he said.
The official said that CAC would be given the award during CRF’s 2023 Conference scheduled for Malta.
