A missed annual return is not, on its own, the end of a company. Enough of them in a row is a different story.
The default period that puts a company at risk
10 consecutive years of not filing an annual return is a ground for strike-off under section 425(3) of Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 (CAMA 2020). That is the Act's own wording, not just a figure repeated by filing guides.
That is a long run of defaults, longer than most businesses would let slip by accident. It usually reflects a company that has been genuinely abandoned, not one that missed a single deadline.
What "struck off" actually means for the register
Being struck off removes a company's name from CAC's active register. It is an administrative outcome, separate from a formal winding-up, though CAC's own notice treats both in a similar way when it comes to recovering unpaid penalties.
A struck-off company is not simply "paused". Its filing status changes, and that change has consequences of its own for anyone still connected to it.
Why the penalty bill keeps growing until that point
Every one of those late returns still carries its own penalty. A small company racking up years toward the strike-off threshold is also racking up its one-off fine for each of them, and the company and each of its directors and officers keep accumulating alongside it.
By the time a company reaches anywhere near 10 consecutive years of default, the accumulated penalty is rarely small. Our guide to calculating a multi-year penalty shows how quickly a run of missed years adds up even at a handful of years, let alone ten.
What CAC does before it strikes a company off
CAC's published process is to first give notice of its intention to strike a company off in at least three national daily newspapers. If the company does not respond within 90 days from the last publication of the notice, CAC may go ahead and strike it off.
That is a real warning, but an easy one to miss: it runs in newspapers most people are not scanning for their company's name, not as a letter to the company's registered address. Separately, CAC has shown it is willing to pursue unpaid penalties even after a company leaves the register, so strike-off is not treated as a reason to write the debt off.
How to find out if your company is already off the register
Do not guess. The CAC public search on icrp.cac.gov.ng shows a company's current standing directly, rather than relying on how long ago someone last thought about its filings.
If your company turns out to already be struck off, our guide to restoring a struck-off company covers the general route back. If it is still active but behind, the CAC annual return penalty calculator and the CAC annual returns hub are the next stops, and you can start your CAC annual return before the count gets any closer to the threshold.