THE Registrar of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Alhaji Garba Abubakar, has said that no fewer than 100,000 companies will be delisted from the Commission’s register for not publishing returns to the government.
He disclosed this on Thursday in Kano while addressing members of the civil society, the media and security agencies on the use of Beneficial Ownership Register initiatives
“The law is clear on the procedures, insisting that any company not filing its returns is considered not in operation or inactive and is liable to be struck out.”
Alhaji Abubakar said that the names of the affected companies will soon be published on the Commission’s website and that they will be given four weeks within which to respond, failure of which, they will be struck off the CAC data.
According to him, “after the first 100,000 companies are delisted, another batch of no fewer than 100,000 defaulting companies will be compiled.”
Alhaji Abubakar added that ” 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.”
“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,” he said.
“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 natural persons that truly control the companies.
He said the programme was for civil society law environment agency, media and other stakeholders on the issue of Beneficiary Ownership Registrar.
He hinted that the register is designed and implemented in line with international commitment, the commitment made by the Nigeria government to have an open central registrar organisation of companies in line with the principle financial act.
“If a delay by company to provide necessary documents and information to the agency attracted a daily default of minimum of N10,000, the whole essence of the issue is to have an open registrar that will support the efficiency work of anti-corruption agency civil society and the media carry out their investigation of such a company if the need arises,” he added.
He said in this case, an open registrar will help investigation to unraveling any hidden agenda of a company that indulged in shady transactions.