By Azeez Quadri 
What is name requiring consent and how does it work?
According to Section 30 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2004 (CAMA), names requiring consent are names of company or businesses that include words such as “Federal”, “National”, “Regional”, “State”, “Government”, “Municipal”, “Chartered”, “Co‐operative”, “Building Society”, “Group” or “Holding” or any other names that may suggest that it enjoys the patronage of the Government of the Federation or the Government of a State in Nigeria.
Any business or company names that may suggest affiliation with any Ministry or Department of Government “or in the opinion of the Commission suggests, or is calculated to suggest, connection with any municipality or other local authority” fall under names requiring consent.
This means you can’t proceed with its registration without first submitting it for vetting and approval. The approval is done by the Registrar-General of the CAC or delegated to senior executives of the commission for approval as the case may be.
Furthermore, the upgrade of an existing business name to a limited liability will pass through name requiring consent.
Case study
Upgrade from Business Name (BN) to Limited Liability Company. Upgrade of BN to Limited falls this category because such name closely resembles an already registered corporate entity in existence, which require a formal letter of consent from the original owner.
If, for instance, Lilly & Dave Integrated Services (a BN) wants to upgrade to LTD, it will pass through the process of “Name requiring consent”. A final approval and upgrade may read Lilly & Dave Integrated Limited.
Registration procedure for name requiring consent
In the process of business or company registration on the portal of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), you may come across name requiring consent. These names that require initial approval, clearance or authorisation by the Registrar-General of the commission.
Summary
The following fall under names requiring consent:
- Upgrade of BN to Limited
- Federal
- NGOs
- Church names
- Clubs
- State
- Association
- Mosques
- Council area
- Initiatives
- Universities
- Polytechnics
- Colleges of Education
Specific name of another country where authorization will be needed from the country’s embassy.
The Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), specifically designated such names as restricted words or phrases that imply government affiliation, specific authority, association with existing entities, or specialised professional status.
Conclusion
Names requiring consent are government-associated words, corporate structure indicators, protected professional terms, institutional terms, existing Names and Incorporated Trustees.