Coy Delisting: CAC advises public on business registration

He said the commission had published an initial list of about 100,000 companies to be delisted.

News Agency of Nigeria • December 17, 2023

Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has advised the general public to desist from opening or registering businesses that they do not have immediate intention of translating into action.

CAC’s director of compliance, Justine Nidia, in an interview on Sunday, said the commission does not encourage people to register companies when they have not developed any business idea that would translate into action.

“It is not advisable to register a company and keep it in your briefcase because that is not helpful to the economy,” he said.

The director said such companies are termed shelf companies and are discouraged from being kept in the register of companies of CAC; thus, they are delisted.

“By shelf companies, we mean registered companies that are redundant or dormant; they are not doing anything.

“So they do not have to be on the register of companies. The appropriate thing to do is to remove them or strike them off the register,” Mr Nidia said.

He said the commission had published an initial list of about 100,000 companies to be delisted.

“We gave an initial period of 90 days, which has elapsed, to those who think they will still be in business to file annual returns for them not to be delisted.

“After the initial publication, about 5,000 companies responded to file their annual returns, with the remaining approximately 95,000 to be delisted,” the director said.

According to Mr Nidia, the commission recently issued another publication asking companies that have filed their returns and still have their names on the list to return to CAC with evidence.

“So we do not delist a company that has already filed its return. So we have given an additional period of one month, after which we will gazette the final list,” Mr Nidia added.

The CAC director commended the efforts of the present government led by President Bola Tinubu for ensuring a conducive atmosphere for businesses to thrive in the country.

Mr Nidia said the commission, in line with Mr Tinubu’s mandate, developed a four-point agenda to drive the affairs of CAC.

(NAN)

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