The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and other experts in the advocacy space have called for the immediate amendment of the Nigeria Mining Act 2007 to tackle banditry and other forms of insecurity in the country.
They made the call in Abuja at a learning event on Beneficial Ownership Transparency Implementation, as well as the new National Action Plan (NAP III) for the implementation of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Initiative in Nigeria.
The forum was organised by CISLAC on behalf of the Accountability in Extractive Sector (AES) cluster within the framework of the Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project being implemented by Palladium and supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The project’s facilitator, who spoke on behalf of CISLAC, Mr Munachi Ugochukwu, said that banditry in Zamfara State and other parts of the country could be addressed if the loopholes in the mining act were amended by the National Assembly.
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He said, “The Nigerian Mining Act needs immediate amendment to address some typical challenges, including banditry and other forms of insecurity.”
He noted that the Beneficial Ownership (BO) register would help identify the true owners of companies, especially those implicated in money laundering and other modes of Illicit Financial Flows (IFFS).
Other speakers warned that the opaqueness surrounding ownership of businesses in Nigeria should be a source of concern to the country, especially as it concerned the extractive sector.
They said an effective implementation of BO transparency principles in Nigeria would help the country save billions lost annually to illicit financial flows through money laundering and tax evasion.
Through the Beneficial Ownership Register domiciled with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), members of the public can access the information of Persons with Significant Control (PSC) of a company for transparency and accountability.
Executive Director of the Support and Training Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP), Dr Harry Udoh, in an interview with journalists, said that the development and maintenance of a BO register in the mining sector would go a long way in checkmating use of shelling companies and other corporate vehicles to siphon money out of the system.
He noted that the extractive sector suffered from corruption due to a lack of transparency and accountability in governance and that reforms made so far to address corruption in the sector had fallen short of the desired goals.