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Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 · Part B · Chapter 11

Section 296 Prohibition of loans to directors in certain circumstances

(1)
It is not lawful for a company to make a loan to any person who is its director or a director of its holding company, or to enter into any guarantee or provide any security in connection with a loan made to such a person as earlier mentioned by any other person : Provided that nothing in this section applies—
(a)
subject to subsection (2), to anything done to provide any such person as mentioned in this subsection with funds to meet expenditure incurred or to be incurred by him for the purposes of the company or for the purpose of enabling him to properly discharge his duties as an officer of the company ; or
(b)
in the case of a company whose ordinary business includes the lending of money or the giving of guarantees in connection with loans made by other persons, to anything done by the company in the ordinary course of that business.
(2)
Subsection (1) (a) does not authorise the making of any loan, or the entering into any guarantee, or the provision of any security except—
(a)
with the prior approval of the company given at a general meeting at which the purposes of the expenditure, the amount of the loan or the extent of the guarantee or security, are disclosed ; or
(b)
on condition that, if the approval of the company is not given as in subsection (2)(a) at or before the next annual general meeting, the loan shall be repaid or the liability under the guarantee or security shall be discharged, within six months from the conclusion of that meeting.
(3)
Where the approval of the company is not given as required by any such condition, the directors authorising the making of the loan, the entering into the guarantee or the provision of the security, are jointly and severally liable to indemnify the company against any loss arising from it.
Cite as: Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, section 296

What this section means

From the guide: Director pay, loans to directors and loss-of-office payments under CAMA 2020

  • It may not lend to a director, or guarantee his loan, except in limited cases with approval (section 296).
  • Section 296(1) makes it unlawful for a company to lend to a director of the company or of its holding company, or to give a guarantee or security for such a loan.
  • The first exception has conditions (section 296(2)).
  • If approval is not obtained as required, the directors who authorised it are jointly and severally liable to indemnify the company for any loss (section 296(3)).

Read the whole subject

Source: Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 (Act No. 3 of 2020), Official Gazette No. 124, Lagos, 10 August 2020. General information, not legal advice.