The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has deregistered over 300,000 dormant companies within a year to sanitise the nation’s corporate registration system.
The Registrar General, Hussaini Ishaq Magaji (SAN), announced this in an exclusive interview with The Nation in Abuja.
Magaji said: “From October 16, 2023, when I assumed office, to date, we have witnessed an extraordinary level of deregistration. In December 2023 alone, we deregistered over 100,000 companies. By February 2024, another 100,000 companies were removed, and recently, we deregistered an additional 100,000.”
The CAC boss explained that the deregistered entities had remained inactive, failing to file annual returns for over a decade.
According to him, some of the companies posed risks to the economy, as they could be used for fraudulent activities.
He said: “Our challenge is that we are not even deregistering in millions. This is because, as I earlier told you, business registration in Nigeria started since sometime around 1912. And what we have in our portal is from 2021. So, you can see the barrier.
“All the historical records from that year to this year are not on the portal. We are onboarding them gradually. When we complete our task, we will then have the total number of the dormant companies and they will go.
“Our system is integrated with critical agencies, such as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), security agencies, embassies, and banks. Once a company is marked as inactive on our portal, it cannot access banking services, process embassy documents, or engage in other operations,” he said.
Magaji explained the legal framework supporting these actions, saying: “If a company remains dormant for over 10 years, we are empowered to deregister it. Additionally, even if a company has been inactive for two years without filing annual returns, I can deregister it under the law.”
The registrar general attributed the success of CAC’s measures to the political will of the Federal Government.
He added: “We have been given a free hand by Mr. President and the supervising minister to carry out our duties without interference. This has enabled us to act boldly and decisively.”
Magaji dismissed the claims that a significant number of companies were folding up due to insolvency or economic challenges.
The CAC boss described such assertions as exaggerated.
He added: “While some businesses apply for voluntary winding up, the numbers of such companies are negligible. Many of these cases arise from changes in business focus rather than economic difficulties. For instance, a company like Nokia transitioned from producing phones to manufacturing vehicle tyres.”
Magaji noted that technological advancements and shifts in business strategies were driving many companies to restructure rather than exit the market.
He said CAC hosts Nigeria’s Beneficial Ownership Register, a platform providing free access to information about companies and their significant controllers.
“Nigeria is one of the global leaders in implementing the beneficial ownership register. We are hosting the register at bor.cac.gov.ng. This transparency ensures that even individuals with indirect control of a company must disclose their interest within 30 days,” he said.
