The Registrar of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Alhaji Garba Abubakar, says the agency has listed 100,000 companies to be delisted from the Commission’s register for not publishing returns to the government.
Alhaji Garba Abubakar stated this in Kano at a meeting with members of civil society, the media, and other security agencies about the usage of Beneficial Ownership Register efforts.
He stated that the law is clear on the procedures, and that any firm that does not file its returns is considered not in existence or inactive, and is subject to delisting.
He said that the names of the impacted companies will be published on the Commission’s website soon, and they will be given four weeks to react before being removed from the CAC data.
“You will agree with me that most procurements are done using companies but the new system provides information about the true owners of these companies so it makes it easier for investigators to know the true owners of these companies”.
The Registrar maintained that after the first 100,000 companies are delisted, another batch of no fewer than 100,000 defaulting companies will be compiled.
“The consequences of striking out are like a lost property but they are at liberty to reapply on the register to be relisted and if they are not relisted within the next ten years, whatever property they have is lost,” he said.
He said that the register is not an end in itself but a means to an end, especially as an avenue to check financial crimes carried out using corporate bodies.
Abdullahi Jalaluddeen
