CISLAC: CAMA will curtail illicit financial flow, corruption

The Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani) has called on all Nigerians to embrace the newly-signed Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), as its effective implementation would not only curb illicit financial flows, but would also empower citizens to be part of THE anti-corruption war.

The call was made in Lagos, recently, during a public consultation/sensitisation on the establishment of the Beneficial Ownership Register by the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, sponsored by Open Government Partnership (OGP) Nigeria Secretariat in partnership with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Oxfam Nigeria.

Musa said the move for CAMA began in 2016, when government made commitment to strengthen anti-corruption reforms and joined OGP to deepen institutional and policy reforms.

One of the commitments within the anti-corruption agenda in the consolidation of existing and new reforms, was the establishment of a Public Central Register of Beneficial Owners of companies.

“Fours years after this bold commitment, we stand before Nigerian public and the international community to say we have crossed the first bridge, which is having the CAMA amended to support Beneficial Ownership Registry Establishment,” he said.

In his presentation entitled: “Key changes in provisions relating to the implementation of beneficial ownership in CAMA 2020” by the Principal Manager, Compliance Department, Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja, Olumide Ologe, said adequate provisions were contained in the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 and were aimed at identifying the ultimate beneficiaries of shares or interests in Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships.

On the steps taken by the commission to ensure its implementation, Ologe said the “Commission had re-designed current forms and also introduced new forms for disclosure of information on Beneficial Ownership and Persons with Significant Control in Companies and LLPs. It is also working in collaboration with the World Bank in ensuring that a very comprehensive Register of Beneficial Ownership in respect of Companies and LLPs is opened in compliance with the Act.”