Five companies listed as “inactive” on the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) portal have received a combined N2.6 billion in federal government contract-related payments within just two months, raising fresh questions over compliance checks in the award and payment of public contracts.
An analysis of federal payment records published on Govspend shows that Fairdeals Associates Limited, A.A.J. Global Resources Limited, E.O.G Global Services Limited, Ada Abdulrahman Global Investment Limited and Legend Otolorin Construction Limited received millions of naira from various ministries, departments and agencies between May and June 2026.
The records put the total value of the payments at approximately N2.606 billion.
The development is particularly striking because the companies were reportedly showing an inactive status on the CAC’s online portal, the official platform used by members of the public to verify corporate registration information.
However, an inactive status does not automatically mean that a company has been dissolved. It can reflect regulatory non-compliance, including failure to file annual returns.
The CAC has been carrying out a major compliance drive against companies that have failed to keep their corporate records up to date.
N449.5m For Fairdeals
Fairdeals Associates Limited received three payments totalling N449.5 million from the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta during the period under review.
The biggest payment, N339.03 million, was made on June 19 for the conduct of capacity-building training for 120 Presidential Amnesty Programme stakeholders in Abuja.
The same day, the company received another N55.23 million for stakeholder and strategic internal security engagement in Bayelsa and Rivers states.
An earlier payment of N55.23 million was made on May 11 for similar stakeholder and strategic internal security engagement in the Niger Delta region.
N368m More For A.A.J. Global
A.A.J. Global Resources Limited received N368.34 million in two separate payments in June.
The Sokoto Rima River Basin Development Authority paid the company N259.29 million for the establishment and equipping of veterinary clinics and artificial insemination centres in pastoralist communities in Sokoto State.
On the same day, the Nigeria Immigration Service paid the company N109.04 million as part payment for the construction and fencing of a 412-metre perimeter around officers’ barracks in Greater Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Transformer Deal Worth N132.9m
Another company, E.O.G Global Services Limited, received N132.95 million from the National Rural Electrification Agency.
The payment was linked to the procurement and installation of 300/500 KVA transformers in the Surulere-Itire community of Lagos State under a contract referenced as REA/CP/2024/A092.
N866.7m Lands With Ada Abdulrahman
Ada Abdulrahman Global Investment Limited received the largest single cluster of payments among the five companies.
The Federal Medical Centre, Kebbi State, made three payments totalling N866.72 million to the company.
The transactions included N162.99 million for the supply of hospital equipment and furniture, N399.47 million for infrastructure upgrade at Kalgo and another N304.26 million for infrastructure upgrade.
Construction Firm Gets N788.7m
Legend Otolorin Construction Limited also received substantial federal payments, totalling N788.72 million between May and June.
The Energy Commission of Nigeria paid the company N136.29 million on June 18 as a 30 per cent mobilisation fee for the provision of 11 transformers for rural electrification across the Makurdi/Guma Federal Constituency in Benue State.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security paid the company N248.48 million on May 10, representing 30 per cent of an approved contract sum of N917.92 million for surface dressing work on the Biyak-Kadarko road in Plateau State.
Two days earlier, on May 9, the Federal Ministry of Works paid another N403.95 million as part payment for the completion of the Sanusi Nasarawa Library Building in Kano State.
Big Questions Over Compliance Checks
The payments have now raised questions over how corporate-status checks were conducted before the contracts were awarded and payments made.
Among the issues likely to attract attention is whether the companies were inactive at the time the contracts were awarded, whether their records had subsequently been regularised, and what compliance checks were carried out before mobilisation fees and other contract payments were released.
The findings, however, do not by themselves establish that the payments were illegal or that the companies were ineligible to execute the contracts.
The CAC’s corporate-status system also requires some context.
An “inactive” designation is not necessarily the same as being struck off or dissolved.
Companies may be marked inactive for failing to meet statutory filing obligations, including the filing of annual returns.
The CAC has warned that companies that fail to regularise their records can ultimately be removed from the register.
Once a company has actually been struck off and dissolved, transactions involving it raise a different and more serious legal issue.
CAC Moves Against 100,000 Firms
The development comes amid an aggressive corporate-compliance campaign by the CAC.
In July, the Commission announced its intention to strike 100,000 companies from the register in what it called Batch 6 of its strike-off exercise.
The affected companies were given a 90-day window to file outstanding annual returns and update relevant corporate information before they could be struck off.
The exercise is being conducted under Section 692(3) and (4) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020, with the CAC publishing the affected companies for public scrutiny.
The latest revelations therefore put the spotlight not only on the five companies but also on the broader system for checking the corporate standing of contractors before public money is released.
With more than N2.6 billion flowing to firms whose CAC portal status was reportedly inactive, attention is now likely to turn to the procurement and payment processes of the agencies involved — and whether existing checks were properly followed before taxpayers’ money changed hands.
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