Large-scale Purge: CAC to Remove 100,000 Companies from Registry

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) is set to remove a total of 100,000 registered companies from its database. Alhaji Garba Abubakar, the Registrar-General/CEO of the CAC, made this announcement during a Training Workshop on the Use of the Beneficial Ownership Register (BOR) held in Lagos. These companies will be deleted due to their failure to submit annual returns over the past ten years, as stipulated in section 692 of the CAMA, 2020. 

Before taking action, the Commission will notify the affected companies about the striking off. However, the companies have the opportunity to be reinstated upon settling their outstanding debts and obtaining a court order, in accordance with the law.

Consequently, he offered a prudent recommendation to companies, emphasizing the importance of promptly settling their annual returns to prevent being deregistered.

Harnessing BOR as An Effective Anti-Corruption Tool

Addressing Africa's inaugural Beneficial Ownership Register, which was developed by the CAC in collaboration with the World Bank, the Registrar General emphasized its pivotal role in combatting corruption, money laundering, and terrorism financing. The platform, launched in May of this year, simplifies the process of accessing information on Persons with Significant Control (PSC), streamlining transparency and accountability measures.

 Here’s what he said: 

“The portal as an automated platform is where records of PSC collated by CAC are stored and accessible both to the general public and for government use. This platform offers a search function and information on persons with significant control by the international standard of beneficiary ownership data standards (BODS) under the guidance of the World Bank. 

“It also provides an Enterprise Service Bus, ESB, gateway for data exchange by BODS in the required format. “The BOR Portal will enable users to find the Person with Significant Control, PSC, of any entity when a search is initiated with either of the following parameters: entity’s name, entity’s number, PSC first name, and PSC surname.” 

He urged various stakeholders, including investigative agencies, legal practitioners, journalists, and civil society organizations, to actively leverage the BOR to fulfill their respective duties effectively.

During the event, Dr. Adeyeye Adefulu, Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL), applauded the CAC for achieving yet another significant milestone in its history. He pledged to maintain the NBA-SBL's positive collaboration with the Commission and encouraged members to apply the knowledge gained during the training to contribute to Nigeria's economic growth.

Aminu Gwadabe, President of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABDCON), also emphasized the critical role of the BOR in combating money laundering and terrorism financing. He raised awareness about the risks associated with such activities and advised professionals to exercise due diligence when dealing with their clients.