January 06, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has directed all lease and licence holders operating in the country’s oil and gas sector to disclose owners of their companies.
The directive is contained in a notice signed by the Chief Executive of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Gbenga Komolafe.
Komolafe directed that the identity/identities of the beneficial owner/owners, the level of ownership and details about how that ownership or control is exerted, be submitted to the commission within seven days.
Tagged, “Notification No. 1 to All Licence and Lease Holders in Nigeria on the Requirement for Submission of Beneficial Ownership Information”, the notice stated 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.
“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 percent of the shares or interest in a relevant person.
“Or a (person) directly or indirectly holding at least 5 percent 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 read.
It described a “person with significant control” as one who:
I. directly or indirectly holding at least 5% of the shares or interest in a relevant person;
ii. directly or indirectly holding at least 5% of the voting rights in a relevant person;
iii. directly or indirectly holding the right to appoint or remove a majority of the directors or partners in a relevant person;
iv. otherwise having the right to exercise or actually exercising significant influence or control over a relevant person; or
v. 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, but would itself satisfy any of the first four conditions above if it were an individual.
The notice added that affected persons were to use the beneficial ownership declaration form included in the notification.
“All current holders of participating interest in an exploration or production oil and gas licence, lease or contract are hereby required to fill the BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP DECLARATION FORM and send to the Commission at [email protected] not later than seven (7) days from the date of this notification.
“All entities that henceforth apply for participating interest in an exploration or production oil and gas licence, lease or contract shall also be required to fill the BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP DECLARATION FORM and submit with their application.
“Notice of change in persons in significant control over a relevant person shall be provided by the relevant person within 30 days of the change using the CHANGE IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP DECLARATION FORM”, it added.
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