Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has threatened to delist over 100,000 inactive companies on its database, on account of failure to comply with the commission’s obligations.
Registrar General, Garba Abubakar, gave the warning in Kano during a workshop, organised by the commission to sensitise civil society members, the media, and security agencies on use of the Beneficial Ownership Register.
He said names of the companies will be published on CAC’s website, and the offenders given a four-week ultimatum to comply, failing which they will be “struck off from the register”.
According to him, “the law is clear. Any company that has not been filing its returns or obligations, that is considered inactive or not in operation; that company is liable to be struck off, if it continues doing so for 10 years.
“We have compiled the first list of 100,000 companies, and they will be published on our website before the end of this week. They will be giving four weeks.
“Any company that is struck off will forfeit its properties to the government. But they are at liberty to apply and be relisted in the register. If they are not relisted in the next 10 years, whatever assets they have will be forfeited to the government.”
The registrar further warned that provision of incorrect information at point of registration attracts a two-year jail term.
He said: “We know that corruption and other illicit financial flows are carried out, using corporate bodies as vehicles. There is a limit to transactions an individual can carry out. So, most procurement and mining leases are issued or done using companies. The register provides information about the true owners and natural person that controls the companies, so it makes it easier for investigating agencies to search and know the true owners.
“If the company fails to provide the correct information about the ultimate individual that controls that company, at point of registration, that is criminal and attracts a two-year jail term. If they delay in providing the information, it attracts a daily default penalty, minimum of N10,000 per day.”
