The Corporate Affairs Commission has announced free business name registration for 3,500 small businesses across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory as part of efforts to support entrepreneurship and deepen economic inclusion.
The Registrar General of the Commission, Hussaini Magaji, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja during activities marking the CAC’s 35th anniversary. He said the initiative is designed to ease the cost of formalisation for micro and small enterprises and encourage wider participation in the formal economy.
Magaji stated that the move reflects the Commission’s commitment to promoting entrepreneurship, reducing start-up costs and supporting inclusive economic growth.
“In the spirit of the celebration, the CAC Boss announced Free Business Name Registration for 3,500 small businesses, to be distributed across the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory,” the statement read in part.
According to him, the programme is intended to encourage more small enterprises to formalise their operations, thereby expanding access to government services, financing opportunities and broader economic participation.
Reflecting on the Commission’s 35-year journey, Magaji described the CAC as a product of vision, innovation and sustained commitment to national development. He noted that the agency has evolved into a technology-driven institution focused on efficiency, transparency and compliance with global best practices.
On the digital front, the Registrar General revealed that the Commission would sign a collaboration letter with Google to strengthen its digital infrastructure and improve service delivery. He said the partnership is expected to enhance portal performance and further improve the ease of doing business in Nigeria.
Magaji also announced the launch of a redesigned CAC website featuring new digital tools, including an AI Lawyer and a business name generator. He explained that the AI Lawyer will provide instant guidance on CAC laws and procedures, while the business name generator will simplify the reservation of scalable business names.
The free registration initiative builds on a similar exercise previously unveiled in partnership with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, which targeted the free registration of 250,000 youth-led businesses. However, it remains unclear how many businesses have been registered under that programme since its announcement in October last year. At the time, Magaji urged Nigerian youths to take advantage of the opportunity to formalise their enterprises.
While encouraging new registrations, the Commission has also taken steps to enforce compliance among registered entities. Over the weekend, the CAC disclosed that it deregistered more than 400,000 companies in 2025 due to prolonged inactivity and failure to meet statutory compliance requirements.
The mass deregistration forms part of the Commission’s efforts to clean up the national companies register and strengthen confidence in Nigeria’s corporate regulatory framework. According to Magaji, the action was necessary to remove inactive and non-compliant entities from the database and safeguard the integrity of the register.
He added that the measure is aimed at ensuring transparency and credibility in Nigeria’s business environment.
