CAC to delist 100,000 companies over failure to file annual returns

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has said it will soon delist about 100,000 companies over failure to file annual returns in the last 10 years.

Registrar General of the commission, Alhaji Garba Abubakar, who made this revelation in Lagos yesterday at a training workshop on the use of the Beneficial Ownership Register (BOR), said it was part of CAC’s enforcement drive.

In a statement by Rasheed Mahe, head, media unit of the CAC, Abubakar, however, said that, “The commission would soon send notices of striking off to the affected companies before embarking on the action as enshrined in section 692 of the CAMA, 2020”

He explained that the companies were, however, entitled to be relisted upon payment of their outstanding debts and an order of a court, as provided by the law.

Abubakar, therefore, advised companies to ensure timely payment of their annual returns to avoid being struck off.

Speaking on Africa’s first Beneficial Ownership Register, built by the CAC with the support and assistance of the World Bank, the registrar general stressed that it would go a long way in curbing corruption, money laundering and terrorism financing.

He, therefore, enjoined stakeholders, especially investigating agencies, legal practitioners, journalists, and civil society organisations, to utilise the BOR in discharging their responsibilities.

In his remark, the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL), Dr Adeyeye Adefulu, commended the CAC for introducing the beneficial ownership register which he noted would go a long way in enhancing company transparency.

By Philip Shimnom Clement & Sani Ibrahim Paki, Kano