CAC Gives 100,000 Companies 90 Days to Avoid Being Struck Off

Around 100,000 Nigerian companies have been given three months to update their regulatory records or face removal from the register maintained by the Corporate Affairs Commission.

The enforcement exercise targets businesses that have not submitted required annual returns or supplied current information about individuals who ultimately own or control them.

The CAC said the affected entities have already been identified on its website. Each company must clear its outstanding filings and send evidence of compliance to the commission through the designated channel before the 90-day window expires.

Companies that fail to act within the period could be struck off without receiving another warning.

The exercise is being conducted under Section 692 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, which empowers the commission to remove entities from its records when there are reasonable grounds to believe they are inactive or no longer operating.

Annual returns provide regulators with continuing evidence that a registered company remains active. They also help keep information about directors, shareholders, registered addresses and corporate status accurate.

These filings are separate from company income tax returns submitted to the relevant tax authority. A business may therefore fulfil its tax obligations and still be in default with the CAC if its corporate returns have not been filed.

The latest directive also covers Persons with Significant Control information. This disclosure identifies individuals who exercise substantial ownership or influence over a company, including control exercised through an indirect arrangement.

Beneficial-ownership records have become increasingly important to financial institutions and regulators seeking to determine who stands behind corporate structures.

Complete information can support investigations into money laundering, corruption, tax evasion and the use of anonymous companies to conceal assets.

For businesses, being removed from the register can create problems extending beyond the immediate regulatory penalty.

Banks, investors, customers and government agencies commonly verify a company’s legal status before approving transactions, contracts or credit facilities.

An inactive status could consequently disrupt account documentation, financing applications, property transactions, licence renewals and participation in public procurement.

Companies attempting to attract investors may also face heightened due-diligence concerns if their statutory records are incomplete.

Directors should not assume that the responsibility rests entirely with an external accountant, lawyer or company secretary.

The company remains responsible for ensuring that its filings have been accepted and that the information held by the CAC reflects its current ownership and operations.

The first step for affected businesses is to check their registration status and establish which returns remain outstanding. They may also need to review changes in shareholding, directors, control arrangements and registered addresses before completing the regularisation process.

Evidence that a document was prepared or payment was initiated may not be sufficient if the filing was rejected or remains unresolved on the commission’s system. Companies should confirm that each submission has been successfully processed.

The new round of enforcement forms part of the CAC’s continuing attempt to remove dormant entities and improve the reliability of Nigeria’s corporate database.

The commission announced a similar action involving about 100,000 companies earlier in 2026, following the removal of more than 400,000 entities in 2025.