The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has concluded plans to deregister 100,000 companies for their alleged failure to publish returns.
The Registrar of CAC, Alhaji Garba Abubakar, stated this in Kano while addressing members of civil society organisations, the media, security agencies, and other stakeholders, on the use of Beneficial Ownership Register initiatives.
He has also has reiterated his commitment to strengthen the fight against corruption and ensure transparency in the system.
According to him, “The law is clear on the procedures; any company not filing its returns is considered not in operation or inactive, and is liable to be struck out.”
He further stated that the names of the affected companies will soon be published on the commission’s website, adding that: “They will be given four weeks within which to respond, failure of which they will be struck off from the CAC data.
“After the first 100,000 companies are delisted, another batch of no fewer than 100,000 defaulting companies will also be compiled. The consequences of striking them 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.
“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 stated that: “The register is designed and implemented in line with international commitment, the commitment made by the Nigeria Government to have an open central register organisation of companies in line with the principle of Financial Act.
“If a company delays providing necessary documents and information to the agency, it attracts a defaulting fine of a minimum of N10,000. The whole essence of the issue is to have an open register that will support the efficient work of the anti-corruption agency, civil society organisation and the media to carry out their investigation of such a company if the need arises.”
Meanwhile, speaking in Lagos, Abubakar the BOR platform would be beneficial in strengthening the government fight against corruption and ensured transparent in the system.
He explained that the platform that was launched in May this year would make it easier to search for information on persons with significant control (PSC).
“The portal is an automated platform where records of PSC collated by CAC are stored and accessible both to the general public and for government use.
“This platform offers a search function and information on persons with significant control (PSC) in accordance with the international standard of beneficiary ownership data standards (BODS) under the guidance of the World Bank.
“It also provides an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) gateway for data exchange in accordance with BODS in the required format.
“The BOR Portal will enable users to find the Person with Significant Control (PSC) of any entity when a search is initiated with either of the following parameters: entity’s name, entity’s number, PSC first name, and PSC surname.
The CAC boss further said that the platform would provide a simple, precise, and user-friendly environment for the search and provision of information on persons with significant control (PSC).
He added that the CAC has a customer relationship management system (CRM) in line with global best practices.
“The CRM is expected to upscale the commission’s customer service by allowing customers to lodge and resolve complaints in record time,” he said.
