Lease and licence holders operating in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, have been given a seven-day ultimatum to unveil the true identities of the real owners of their companies.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) issued the directive on Thursday, in a notification, under the subject, “Notification No. 1 to All Licence and Lease Holders in Nigeria on the Requirement for Submission of Beneficial Ownership Information”.

According to the Chief Executive, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, the information to be disclosed must include the accurate identity(ies) of the beneficial owner(s), including the level of ownership, and details of how control is exerted.

The Commission insists that the full list of the real owners of the companies be formally made available to it.

The directive follows the recent release of a beneficiary ownership register by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

NUPRC averred, “The commission hereby requires all entities that apply for or hold a participating interest in an exploration or production oil and gas licence, lease or contract to provide information of their owners, including the identity(ies) of their beneficial owner(s), the level of ownership and details about how that ownership or control is exerted.

“Accordingly, all relevant persons are hereby required to provide the information of persons with significant control over them: A person with significant control means any person directly or indirectly holding at least five per cent of the shares or interest in a relevant person.

“Or a (person) directly or indirectly holding at least 5 per cent of the voting rights in a relevant person; and directly or indirectly holding the right to appoint or remove a majority of the directors or partners in a relevant person.”

The notice required affected persons to use the beneficial ownership declaration form included in the notification.

“At the NUPRC, we are implementing the beneficial ownership reporting system, as it is a statutory requirement, which demands full disclosure of beneficial ownership information.

“The commission is engaging the oil and companies to ensure their mandatory compliance,” Komolafe stated.

The NUPRC made it clear that those expected to comply with the directive, are persons with significant control of at least five percent shares and directly or indirectly holding the same percentage of voting rights, among others, described as significant persons.

It further stipulates that the significant persons were those otherwise having the right to exercise or actually exercising significant influence or control over a relevant person; or having the right to exercise, or actually exercising significant influence or control over the activities of a trust or firm, whether or not it is a legal entity.