The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has announced that it will remove the names of more than 100,000 companies from its database due to long-term inactivity and failure to meet required legal standards.
In a notice released over the weekend, the Commission explained that this action is aimed at cleaning up Nigeria’s corporate records and improving overall compliance with the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020. It also aligns with efforts to meet global anti-money laundering practices.
The CAC revealed that many of the companies have not operated for at least a decade, while others failed to follow basic legal steps—such as filing annual returns or disclosing information about their key shareholders, known as Persons with Significant Control (PSC).
“Companies stricken off the register are deemed to have been dissolved from the date of publication. It is illegal to enter into any transaction or deal with a company that has been dissolved,” the Commission warned in its notice.
To give companies a chance to correct their records, the CAC has offered a 90-day grace period. Within this time, affected businesses must file all overdue annual returns and, where necessary, send activation emails to the Commission through the address: activation@cac.gov.ng.
“It shall be unlawful for any company struck off the Register of Companies to continue carrying on business unless it is restored by an order of the Federal High Court,” the notice added.