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 Partnershipnon seulement en ouvrant les données gouvernementales, mais aussi en veillant à ce que ces données puissent être utilisées de manière significative pour favoriser la participation, la responsabilité et l’impact.

Résultats escomptés D'ici janvier 2028, cette réforme vise à fournir un système d'interopérabilité opérationnel et multiplateforme reliant le registre des bénéficiaires effectifs du CAC, NOCOPO, les données de propriété extractive du NEITI, Open Treasury et les données financières pertinentes dans le cadre des protocoles Open Banking. 

La réforme prévoit d’établir une norme nationale de publication de données pour le portail Open Treasury, garantissant que les enregistrements de décaissement des MDA sont publiés dans des formats standardisés et lisibles par machine. 

Les organisations de la société civile et les journalistes d’investigation bénéficieront d’un accès amélioré et fiable aux données de propriété et fiscales via un tableau de bord convivial, permettant une meilleure surveillance, un meilleur signalement et des rapports d’intérêt public. L’un des principaux résultats sera d’aligner l’échange de données entre les systèmes sur le cadre de gouvernance numérique existant pour guider l’utilisation des données. Ces résultats devraient améliorer les notes du Nigéria en matière de lutte contre la corruption dans les évaluations internationales et renforcer visiblement le cadre de responsabilité budgétaire du pays.

Jalons La première étape importante, prévue pour le troisième trimestre 3, sera la formation d'un groupe multipartite réunissant des agences gouvernementales clés comme le CAC, le BPP, le NEITI et le Bureau du comptable général de la Fédération =, des organisations de la société civile, des universitaires et d'autres membres du public comme les jeunes et les femmes pour diriger le programme d'interopérabilité. 
Au quatrième trimestre 4, un audit technique sera réalisé pour évaluer l’état actuel de chaque plateforme et définir les exigences minimales d’interopérabilité. 

Au cours du premier trimestre 1 jusqu'au troisième trimestre 2026, le registre BO du CAC et NOCOPO seront connectés via une intégration API pilote initiale. Le troisième trimestre 3 sera marqué par un défi de données sur les technologies civiques visant à promouvoir l’utilisation publique des nouveaux outils et à identifier des cas d’utilisation pratiques. Au quatrième trimestre 4, la norme de publication des données ouvertes du Trésor sera élaborée conformément aux normes internationales grâce à un processus collaboratif impliquant les OSC et le gouvernement. L'interopérabilité sera étendue au premier et au deuxième trimestre 1 pour inclure NEITI et certaines données financières provenant de plateformes bancaires dans le cadre de l'Open Banking. D'ici le troisième trimestre 3 au premier trimestre 2027, un tableau de bord de données accessible au public sera lancé. 

La société civile est-elle impliquée ?

Oui. La société civile fait partie intégrante de la conception et de la mise en œuvre de cette réforme. Dès le départ, les OSC seront invitées à co-créer la norme de publication des données du Trésor ouvert, en s’appuyant sur leur expérience en matière de surveillance budgétaire et d’utilisation des données. Ils évalueront également les cadres de gouvernance numérique existants, les mettront à jour et les adapteront pour façonner l’interopérabilité de tous les systèmes de finances publiques. Les organisations de la société civile et les professionnels des médias seront les premiers à tester le nouveau système intégré et les outils de tableau de bord, contribuant ainsi à garantir la convivialité et la pertinence par rapport aux besoins réels de plaidoyer et d’enquête. 

Au fur et à mesure de l’avancement du projet, les OSC participeront à des sessions de formation sur la manière d’accéder et d’analyser les données sur la propriété effective et les dépenses publiques pour les campagnes de responsabilisation. Leur participation comprendra également le suivi du respect par le gouvernement des délais de publication et des normes de données, ainsi que la production de rapports d’étape indépendants pour améliorer la surveillance publique. Des plateformes comme laOpen Government Partnership