The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) says it will soon commence the striking off of companies that fail to comply with the Beneficial Ownership Register (BOR) implementation. The CAC Registrar-General, Alhaji Garba Abubakar, said this in Abuja on the sidelines of its training workshop for stakeholders on the use of BOR. BOR is a public register of the true ownership and control of Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) in Nigeria. With the Register, any person can easily ascertain who owns what in Nigerian Companies and LLPs. This is crucial in combating corruption, illicit financial flows and other forms of criminality under the cover of Companies and LLPs. It also promotes transparency in the conduct of business in Nigeria.
Abubakar said: “Well, they have to comply because the commission will have zero tolerance for non compliance. Apart from the penalty, we are compiling a list of companies that are not up to date in an audit and very soon we are going to strike them off from the register. And the consequence of striking-off from the register is, any asset or any property you hold in the name of that company will be vested with the government. This is because it is like a lost property until you go to court to ask for the name to be reinstated. For as long as that company remains struck off, you will not be able to access your funds in the bank, you will not be able to do any contract, you will not be able to enter into any business relationship.” Abubakar said that the commission would soon remove the first 100,000 companies and after one month the next 100,000 would follow.
“And these are companies that are not up to date that have not filed annual returns in the last ten years. Also, because of the requirements that you must give notice to these companies before striking them-off, this will be done between now and the end of July,” he said. Abubakar said that the implementation of the register would also help in attracting investments into the country. ”So, it will go a long way in promoting investment because it will ensure transparency and support the anti-corruption initiative of the government,” he added. (NAN)
