By Felix Khanoba
The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) says it has categorised the status of several registered companies as inactive following their refusal to file their annual returns as required by law.
Registrar-General of the Commission , Garba Abubakar, disclosed this at a forum organised for Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN) on Friday in Abuja.
He said the list of present status of every registered company has been uploaded in the Commission’s website.
The CAC boss, however, clarified that no company has been delisted by the Commission, adding that the process of delisting the names of companies under its new law is cumbersome.
Speaking on filing of relevant documents for business name registration, Abubakar warned customers against uploading false information on the Commission’s portal, saying offenders are liable to two years imprisonment.
Recall that the Commission commenced implementation of the new Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 (CAMA 2020) on January 1 and had equally launched a new self-service portal to promote Ease of Doing Business (EoDB).
Abubakar said once a document is submitted by accredited customers on behalf of a company, the Commission presumes that materials are okay and the person that submitted had the authority.
“If anybody makes any mistake or false declaration or submit any information that is false that person will be liable to two years imprisonment upon conviction.
“We advise our customers to ensure they have proper authority to make filings on behalf of companies that engage them. If there is any wrong information or any misstatement in the document submitted they will be held responsible,’’ he said.
Abubakar said the new system placed a lot of responsibilities on the persons submitting documents on behalf of the companies.
He explained that this became necessary because the strict requirements of the past where its officers had to compare signatures and looked at other documents to validate the new filing have been relaxed.
