In a renewed push to support entrepreneurship and reduce barriers to business formalisation, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has announced plans to provide free business name registration for 3,500 small enterprises across Nigeria.
The announcement was made by the Registrar-General of the CAC, Hussaini Magaji, during activities marking the Commission’s 35th anniversary celebration in Abuja.
Boosting Entrepreneurship and Formalisation
According to the CAC, the initiative is designed to encourage micro and small business owners operating in the informal sector to formalise their operations without the usual financial burden. By removing registration costs, the Commission hopes to expand the number of legally recognised businesses and improve their access to opportunities such as financing, government interventions, and business protection.
The free registrations will be distributed across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), ensuring nationwide coverage and inclusivity.
Part of a Wider Reform Agenda
The programme forms part of the CAC’s broader strategy to simplify business registration and deepen Nigeria’s ease-of-doing-business reforms. In recent years, the Commission has introduced several digital innovations to make registration faster and more accessible, including upgraded online portals and automated support tools for entrepreneurs.
Magaji noted that the CAC is increasingly positioning itself as a technology-driven regulator, committed to transparency, efficiency, and alignment with global best practices in corporate governance.
Strengthening Nigeria’s Business Environment
The free registration initiative also complements the Commission’s efforts to sanitise the corporate registry. In the past year, the CAC undertook a major clean-up exercise that saw hundreds of thousands of inactive and non-compliant companies removed from its records, aimed at improving data integrity and investor confidence.
As Nigeria continues to seek economic growth driven by small and medium-scale enterprises, the CAC’s move is expected to provide relief for budding entrepreneurs and reinforce the importance of operating within the formal economy.
