CAC suspends over 38, 000 dormant companies

THE Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has revealed that it has suspended a total of 38,000 companies that have been inactive for a long period of time as way of checking the performance of registered companies in Nigeria.

Making the disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja at a roundtable discussion with the media, the representative of the Registrar General of the Commission, Alhaji Garba Abubakar, noted that CAC law stipulates that, “If the Commission has reasons to believe that a company is redundant, the agency will suspend such a company for three months.”

Garba explained that the three months suspension is to enable the commission observe whether the suspended company will resume activity, adding that, if such a company resumes activity within the three months of suspension, the suspension will be lifted.

He stated that in 2008 alone, the commission suspended about 9800 companies that were believed to be inactive for long period of time. Garba further stated that the suspended companies have a grace of 20 years to revive their organisation failure after which they will be finally dissolved.

Garba also outlined the many achievement of the Commission for the past few years. He noted that the CAC is collaborating with Federal Inland Revenue Service with a view to introducing electronic stamping (e-stamping) of documents on the Company Registration Portal (CRP).

He noted that the e-stamping will dispense with physical submission of documents, which causes delay and facilitate one stop on-online shop for company registration.

Garba stated that in order for the Commission to ensure the integrity of its database and provide for easy retrieval of the registration records for ease of access by staff and customers electronically, CAC has embarked on rapid digitisation of all the legacy records into suitable electronic formats.

He noted that the Commission has uploaded the names of all registered companies, businesses, incorporated trustees and those undergoing registration on its website as part of measures to make basic registration information easily available to customers and members of the public desiring registration.

Abubakar stated that for the Commission to ensure seamless operation of the company registration portal and zero downtime, CAC has commenced the process of evaluating bids from MTN, VODACOM, MAIN-ONE and Galaxy Backbone for the purpose of transferring the hosting of its main database and operating software.

He explained further that the Commission has also reviewed the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990 (CAMA), stating that, the Act has been in operation since inception without any substantial amendment. “The Commission has carried out an in house review of CAMA to bring it in line with global best practices in Company Regulation and administration.”

According to him, “The review will strength the regulatory and enforce capacities of the Commission to effectively discharge its function and thus promote global best practice and good corporate governance in the management and operation of Companies, Business Names and Incorporated Trustees,” he concluded.