Economy
Nigeria Launches Website to Check Beneficial Owners of Oil Assets
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on Thursday launched an online register for the verification of beneficial owners oil assets and mines in the country.
The initiative is part of government’s efforts to ensure transparency in the extractive sector in Nigeria.
In some cases, public officials use the position to award contracts to firms they have huge interest in. They register such companies with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) using fronts. These legal owners are used to run the organisations.
Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mr Waziri Adio, speaking at the unveiling of the register today, stated that the list of the beneficial owners contains extractive companies covered under NEITI ‘s audits.
“Today is a very important day because knowing who owns what in the extractive sector will ensure the growth of the country as it will tackle potential ills such as tax evasion, money laundry etc.
“Nigeria is joining other countries in the creation of its Beneficial Ownership register today. It might not be perfect but while searching for perfection, we should not be the enemy of good. Let us use it to create awareness,” he said.
Also, speaking at the launch, the Director of Communications and Advocacy at NEITI, Dr Orji, said the initiative was not created to go after anyone, but to create transparency in the extractive industry. “Let us use this tool for advocacy and enlightenment as this is not a tool to witch hunt anyone,” he urged.
In her remarks, representative of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mrs Chidera Onwuka, said, “We are delighted to work with NEITI in the unveiling of the Beneficial Ownership register. It is a great achievement in moving the country forward. We look forward to the tool reducing corruption and encouraging investment in the country.”
On his part, Chairman of Civil Society Steering Committee, Mr Kolawole Banwo, congratulated the agency for this idea, saying, “We must use this tool for public good and not as a witch hunting tool. We must be able to balance public information and privacy rights.”
Business Post reports that to access the register, users must visit **@*******ov.ng and type the name of the company or a suspected owner on the search bar on the website to know what percent of stake such person has in the company.
At the moment, the register has details of beneficial owners of companies in the solid mineral and oil & gas sectors.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
