President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed Senator Dr Ibrahim Ida as Chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) board in late March. A former senator for Katsina Central, Ida holds an LLB from the University of Abuja and a master's degree in banking and finance from the University of Ibadan, with prior experience at the Central Bank of Nigeria. The CAC, responsible for registering and regulating companies under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020, has faced persistent challenges, including technical failures in its AI-powered online portal, causing downtime, login issues, and errors in business registrations and annual filings.
Over 400,000 inactive companies were deregistered in 2025 to clean the register, exposing gaps in compliance enforcement. Some financial institutions continue to enable non-compliant firms, while internal misconduct at the CAC has led to referrals to the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). Small and medium enterprises still encounter cumbersome processes, hidden costs, and delays, despite ongoing reforms. The 2025 PEBEC Subnational Ease of Doing Business Report reveals stark regional disparities, with Lagos scoring 85.6%, followed by Kaduna at 65.1%, Oyo at 62.7%, FCT Abuja at 61.0%, and Ogun at 59.9%. The Senate Committee on Finance had previously called for the removal of former Registrar-General Hussaini Magaji over non-compliance with legislative invitations.
Senator Ibrahim Ida's appointment places a technocrat with financial, legal, and legislative credentials at the head of a critical regulatory body during a period of systemic strain. Given the CAC's recent technical failures and the mass deregistration of over 400,000 companies in 2025, his ability to stabilise digital systems and enforce compliance will directly affect how easily Nigerian businesses can operate. If the CAC under Ida fails to streamline processes, especially for SMEs, the broader goal of formalising Nigeria's informal economy will remain out of reach.
