The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) says it has commenced registration of private schools as limited liability companies and not as a business entity to ensure continuity.
Head of CAC zonal office in Kaduna, Abdulkadir Modibbo, disclosed this in Kaduna on Thursday at a two-day consultative meeting on the formulation of policy to guide operations of private schools in Kaduna.
The meeting was organised by PLANE, a seven-year education programme funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to invest in a more inclusive and effective education system in Nigeria.
Mr Modibbo explained that the new development which took effect from March 2022 showed that private schools were a corporate body capable of contracting businesses and could sue and be sued.
He further said schools issued certificates in their names, noting that those attributes were not in a business name.
He stressed that above all, registering schools as a limited liability company would ensure the continuity of a school even if the owner dies.
“For example, if the owner of a private school dies, the children can inherit the school and may decide to either continue the school or close it,” explained the CAC official. “This will affect the learners and those that long graduated from the school in case an organisation wants to verify if certain individuals graduated from a particular school.”
He added, “But a limited liability is not like that. The directors or the shareholders will continue the school even if the founder dies. So, anyone that wants to register a private school, will have to register it as a limited liability company with shareholders.”
Ja’afaru Riyoji, chairman of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Kaduna chapter, expressed concern that the development would pose a challenge as private schools fall within small-scale businesses.
Mr Riyoji then asked what would happen to schools already registered as a business.
Responding, Mr Modibbo, explained that CAC had yet to take a stand on schools already registered under a business name.
(NAN)