The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has announced a 90-day grace period for more than 91,000 dormant companies to file their outstanding annual returns or face delisting from its register.
These companies have not filed annual returns for the past ten years.
The CAC made this announcement in a statement published on its website on Wednesday. The statement, titled “Notice Of Intention To Strike Off Companies From The Register,” indicated that all dormant companies over the last decade are subject to delisting by Section 692 (3) (4) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act No. 3 of 2020.
Section 692 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 (CAMA) requires the CAC to remove the names of defunct companies from the Register of Companies.
The CAC, however, advised affected companies to file their annual returns to avoid being delisted.
An annual return is a yearly payment every registered company or Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) is required to make to the CAC irrespective of the state of its business transactions.
The statement partly reads, “This is to inform the general public that the Commission, according to its powers contained in Section 692 (3) (4) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act No. 3 of 2020, intends to strike off from the Register names of defunct or dormant companies that have not filed Annual Returns for 10 years.
“A full list is published on the Commission’s website www.cac.gov.ng.
“These companies are given 90 days from the date of this publication to file all outstanding Annual Returns and send an email of this fact to remove their names from the list.”
The CAC urged stakeholders to note that it is illegal to carry on business with the name of a company that has been delisted from the register, as such a company is deemed to be dissolved.
