Point of Sale (PoS) operators, represented by the National President of the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria, Fasasi Sarafadeen, have announced plans to challenge the legality of the mandatory registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
Sarafadeen criticized the directive, arguing that it violates the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) of Nigeria.
According to Sarafadeen, CAC has no jurisdiction over individuals operating as sole proprietors, as opposed to registered companies.
He said: “According to section 863(1) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2004, the order to enforce CAC directive on individual PoS agents operating under their name is wrong and will be challenged, as it contravenes the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, which explicitly states that CAC has no jurisdiction over individuals not operating as a company.
“We shall challenge it legally. The court will have to intervene in the interpretation of the quoted section of the CAMA if individuals operating as a sub-agent (likened to a bank branch) must register with CAC.
“CBN is right, no issue, the memo is clear, it only applies to non-individuals, unlike the Corporate Affairs Commission who generalised.
“We are in talks with the lawyer representing the association already, and a league of human rights lawyers whom we are not disclosing who they are for now.”
Explaining the categories, he stated that there were two categories of Point-of-Sale agents.
He explained, “CAMA only mandates registration of individuals operating as a company. There are two categories of POS agents: individuals and non-individuals. Individual agents operate under their names, such as Musa Caroline or Abubakar Audu, and are typically profiled with financial institutions under their names.
“Non-individual agents, on the other hand, operate under registered or unregistered business names, such as Wale Ventures or Johnson Enterprises. It is this second category of agents that the Corporate Affairs Commission can enforce the law on, as they are required to register their business names by the law.“
Sarafadeen noted that sub-agents are independent branches of a company already registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
According to the AMMBAN boss, the CAC should focus its efforts on addressing the high failure rate of registered businesses in Nigeria, rather than enforcing regulations on individual POS agents operating under their names.
“CAC should be concerned about how 50 per cent of registered businesses in Nigeria fail within the first few years, resulting in growing unemployment year-on-year.
“Rather than embarking on policies that will eradicate entrepreneurs, escalate unemployment, and reverse the gains of financial inclusion in Nigeria,” he added.
