Reform Description

This commitment aims to enhance beneficial ownership (BO) transparency in Nigeria by promoting data integration across relevant agencies, enhancing civil society access to beneficial ownership data, and improving data standards for fiscal transparency and open-source data in Nigeria. This reform aim to promote data exchange and interoperability between public finance entities such that the data on the the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)’s Beneficial Ownership Register, the Nigeria Open Contracting Portal (NOCOPO) managed by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), the Oil and Gas and Minerals BO registers managed by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), and financial disclosure tools like the Open Treasury and Open Banking platforms are interlinked and speak to each other. By enabling secure and structured data exchange among these systems, this reform will ensure that procurement records and financial flows can be directly traced to real human beneficiaries behind companies, trusts, and legal arrangements.

Second, this reform will strengthen access to BO data by civil society organisations (CSOs) through user-centered formats, real-time interfaces, and data-sharing protocols. It will also foster partnerships between CSOs and government actors to ensure BO data supports accountability and citizen engagement.

Third, the reform will support the development and adoption of a standardised data publication framework for the Open Treasury platform and other public finance tools that allow for real-time monitoring of financial inflow and outflow in government for transparency and accountability. Currently, Nigeria’s  Open Treasury lacks consistency in data structure, granularity, and metadata. The new standard will define how data is structured, tagged, linked to contracting entities and BOs, and made machine-readable to allow data fusion with procurement and company ownership records.

These combined actions will not only enhance the availability and usability of BO data but will also transform how BO information informs due diligence in procurement, strengthen the integrity of public finance, reinforce public trust in governance and enable public accountability in Nigeria’s resource governance and budget systems.

Problem(s) Addressed by Reform

The primary problem this commitment addresses is the use of anonymous corporate structures to hide illicit financial flows, influence public procurement, evade taxes, and siphon public funds. Despite ongoing reforms, the limited interoperability between different data platforms, such as company ownership, public procurement, extractives licensing, and treasury payments, has made it difficult to establish transparent linkages between beneficial owners and the financial flows they influence.

Nigeria lost about $18 billion annually due to corruption and financial crimes, specifically from public procurement. Other sectors like the extractives have also recorded substantial losses due to corruption perpetrated by an intricate network of syndicates who exploit state resources for their benefit. A notable example of domestic resource corruption is the Malabu Scandal, which involved the illicit transfer of billions of dollars intended for crude oil block allocations in Nigeria. 

The current lack of data coordination allows corrupt actors to exploit loopholes by using shell companies to bid for and win contracts, sometimes across multiple ministries or sectors, without detection. There is also weak cross-referencing between who owns companies and who receives public funds, particularly in high-risk sectors like oil, gas, and mining.

Additionally, civil society organisations and the media have limited access to structured, machine-readable BO data, limiting their capacity to track irregularities, investigate illicit financial flows, and hold power to account. Even after the development of the BO register by CAC and NEITI and the design of the NOCOPO platform, and data about beneficial owners of companies and procurement processes is technically available, it is often not published in formats that enable easy use necessary to produce actionable insights for investigations and advocacy.

Another key issue is the lack of standardised publication for Nigeria’s Open Treasury data, which makes it difficult to connect treasury disbursements to entities or individuals with hidden beneficial interests. Without harmonised publication standards, data across portals remains fragmented and unlinked.

This fragmentation undermines Nigeria’s efforts to promote fiscal transparency, close revenue leakages, and recover stolen public assets. It also inhibits efforts to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes that depend on opaque ownership structures and weak transparency ecosystems.

This reform represents a systemic response to the problem of corruption enabled by hidden ownership structures and silo systems. By creating interoperability between major this reform will unlock the full potential of each system and provide a more holistic picture of how public funds flow through legal entities in Nigeria.

This integration will allow anti-corruption agencies, civil society, and investigative journalists to detect red flags in real-time, such as when a politically exposed person or a hidden owner is involved in multiple contracts, or when a single individual is linked to multiple entities receiving state funds.

In addition, improving civil society access to BO data in structured, usable formats will make it easier to carry out independent investigations and demand accountability. CSOs will be able to develop digital tools, dashboards, and visualisations that help ordinary citizens understand how public funds are spent and who benefits from them.

The development of a data publication standard for Open Treasury will ensure that disbursement data is structured, granular, and connected to procurement records and BO data. This will allow more effective audits and due diligence checks across the public finance lifecycle, from contract award to final payment.

Altogether, this commitment moves Nigeria away from fragmented and reactive anti-corruption efforts and toward a proactive, data-driven, and joined-up governance framework that prevents corruption before it occurs, strengthens deterrence, and fosters public trust.

Relevance to OGP Values

This commitment is directly aligned with the core open government values of transparency, public accountability, and civic participation.

By improving data interoperability and harmonising data publication standards, the reform will make a broader set of government-held information, especially related to who owns what and who receives public funds, accessible in structured, machine-readable, and open formats. This will enhance fiscal transparency by enabling cross-checking of government spending, contracting, and ownership data.

The reform also strengthens public accountability by making it easier for oversight institutions and the public to trace the flow of public resources and detect potential conflicts of interest, fraud, or abuse of office. Connecting BO data with procurement, treasury systems and open banking data allows for deeper scrutiny of public finance processes and promotes more responsible governance.

Finally, the commitment enhances civic participation by equipping civil society organizations, journalists, researchers, and citizens with the tools and information they need to engage meaningfully in governance. By enabling CSOs to access and use BO data, the reform supports data-driven advocacy, amplifies citizen voice, and empowers communities to demand better service delivery and integrity from public officials.

These measures fulfill the principles of the Open Government Partnershipno sólo abriendo los datos gubernamentales sino también garantizando que dichos datos puedan usarse de manera significativa para fomentar la participación, la rendición de cuentas y el impacto.

Resultados previstos Para enero de 2028, esta reforma tiene como objetivo ofrecer un sistema de interoperabilidad multiplataforma operativo que conecte el Registro de Beneficiarios Beneficiosos de la CAC, NOCOPO, los datos de propiedad extractiva de NEITI, Open Treasury y datos financieros relevantes bajo los protocolos de Open Banking. 

La reforma espera establecer un estándar nacional de publicación de datos para el Portal Abierto del Tesoro, garantizando que los registros de desembolso de los MDA se publiquen en formatos estandarizados y legibles por máquina. 

Las organizaciones de la sociedad civil y los periodistas de investigación obtendrán un acceso mejorado y confiable a los datos fiscales y de propiedad a través de un panel de control fácil de usar, lo que permitirá una mayor supervisión, detección de errores y presentación de informes de interés público. Un resultado importante será alinear el intercambio de datos entre sistemas con el marco de gobernanza digital existente para guiar el uso de los datos. Se espera que estos resultados mejoren las calificaciones anticorrupción de Nigeria en las evaluaciones internacionales y fortalezcan visiblemente el marco de responsabilidad fiscal del país.

Hitos El primer hito importante, previsto para el tercer trimestre de 3, será la formación de un grupo de múltiples partes interesadas que reúna a agencias gubernamentales clave como CAC, BPP, NEITI y la Oficina del Contador General de la Federación, organizaciones de la sociedad civil, el mundo académico y otros miembros del público como grupos de jóvenes y mujeres para liderar la agenda de interoperabilidad. 
En el cuarto trimestre de 4, se realizará una auditoría técnica para evaluar el estado actual de cada plataforma y definir los requisitos mínimos de interoperabilidad. 

Entre el primer trimestre de 1 y el tercer trimestre de 2026, el Registro BO de CAC y NOCOPO se conectarán a través de una integración API piloto inicial. El tercer trimestre de 3 contará con un desafío de datos tecnológicos cívicos para promover el uso público de las nuevas herramientas e identificar casos de uso prácticos. En el cuarto trimestre de 4, se desarrollará el Estándar de Publicación de Datos Abiertos del Tesoro de acuerdo con los estándares internacionales a través de un proceso colaborativo que involucra a las OSC y el gobierno. La interoperabilidad se ampliará en el primer y segundo trimestre de 1 para incluir NEITI y datos financieros seleccionados de plataformas bancarias bajo Open Banking. Entre el tercer trimestre de 3 y el primer trimestre de 2027, se lanzará un panel de datos de acceso público. 

¿Está involucrada la sociedad civil?

Sí.  La sociedad civil es parte integral tanto del diseño como de la implementación de esta reforma. Desde el principio, se invitará a las OSC a co-crear el Estándar de Publicación de Datos Abiertos del Tesoro, aprovechando su experiencia en el monitoreo fiscal y el uso de datos. También evaluarán los marcos de gobernanza digital existentes, los actualizarán y adaptarán para dar forma a la interoperabilidad de todos los sistemas de finanzas públicas. Las organizaciones de la sociedad civil y los profesionales de los medios de comunicación serán los primeros en probar el nuevo sistema integrado y las herramientas del panel de control, lo que ayudará a garantizar la facilidad de uso y la relevancia para las necesidades de investigación y defensa del mundo real. 

A medida que avance el proyecto, las OSC participarán en sesiones de capacitación sobre cómo acceder y analizar datos sobre propiedad real y gasto público para campañas de rendición de cuentas. Su participación también incluirá la supervisión del cumplimiento por parte del gobierno de los plazos de publicación y los estándares de datos, y la producción de informes de progreso independientes para mejorar la supervisión pública. Plataformas como laOpen Government Partnership