The ownership of a public limited liability company is made up of

Analyze the question: It asks about the number of owners (shareholders) a public limited liability company (PLC) can have.

Explain the concept: In Nigeria (under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, CAMA), companies are classified by membership:

• Private limited company: minimum of 2 members and a maximum of 50 (under the older law). Shares cannot be sold to the general public.
• Public limited company: minimum of 2 members under the current CAMA 2020. Under the older law and in most textbooks used for JAMB, the minimum is 7. There is no maximum, because shares can be offered to the general public, typically through the stock exchange.
• Government-owned enterprise (public corporation): owned by the government, not a PLC.

Step-by-step solution:

1. Option A (2 to 20 persons) matches an ordinary partnership, not a PLC.
2. Option B (min 2, max 50) describes a private limited company.
3. Option C (min 7, no maximum) matches the traditional definition of a public limited company.
4. Option D (owned by the government) describes a public corporation or state-owned enterprise, not a PLC.

Answer: The correct option is C. (Note: CAMA 2020 reduced the minimum for a public company to 2 members, but JAMB 2015 follows the classic textbook rule of seven.)

Exam tip: Remember "Private = 2 to 50, Public = 7 and above, no upper limit." The word "public" means the general public can buy shares, so there is no ceiling on the number of owners.