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The National Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria has concluded plans to head to the courts to address the legality of the mandatory business registration order issued to its members by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). 
In an <a href="https://punchng.com/pos-operators-to-drag-cac-to-court/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">interview</a>, the President of the association, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarafadeen-fasasi-21b153165/?originalSubdomain=ng" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fasasi Sarafadeen</a>, faulted the directive mandating PoS operators to register with the CAC, saying the move has forced the association to go to court to seek redress. 
Sarafadeen asserted that the directive from the CAC violates a provision of the Companies and Allied Matters Act of the Federation of Nigeria of 2004, which “explicitly states that the commission has no jurisdiction over individuals not operating as a company.” 
“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”, the association president said. 
Recall that a fortnight ago, the CAC formally commenced an enrollment exercise for Point of Sale (PoS) agents and operators in Nigeria. The launch event also coincided with the opening of a 24-hour service centre that will help PoS operators get prompt responses and resolutions on issues surrounding their registration. 
“We have launched a 24-hour service centre to accommodate enquiries from Point of Sales operators and agents who may want to register as directed by the new policy. The secretariat is equipped the secretariat with the necessary facilities for this task”, the Registrar-General of the CAC, Hussaini Magaji said at the event. 
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 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="580" height="580" src="https://technext24.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CAC-launches-portal.jpeg" alt="CAC launches registration point for PoS operators, security agents to go after unregistered operators from July" class="wp-image-231254">
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 Registrar-General of the CAC, Hussaini Magaji at the launch of the registration point for PoS operators
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A week before, the Nigerian government through the CAC issued a two-month registration deadline for PoS operators to register as corporate bodies with the commission in line with the legal requirements and directives of the Central Bank of Nigeria. 
The announcement relies on Section 863, Subsection 1 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA 2020) and the 2013 CBN guidelines on agent banking which aim to safeguard businesses and strengthen the economy. 
Mr Magaji said at the unveiling that the country’s security agencies would go after PoS operators who fail to comply with the directive to register with the Corporate Affairs Commission beginning from July 7. 
According to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, there are over 1.9 million PoS terminals deployed by merchants and individuals nationwide. 
Similar read: <a href="https://technext24.com/2024/05/09/cac-pos-operators-security-agents-july/">CAC launches registration point for PoS operators, security agents to go after unregistered operators from July</a> 
<h5 id="individual-vs-corporate-pos-operators-and-the-need-for-distinction" class="wp-block-heading">Individual vs corporate Pos Operators and the need for distinction</h5> 
On the contrary, Sarafadeen mentioned that there are two distinct categories of Point-of-Sale agents: individuals and non-individuals. 
He explained further: “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.” 
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 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://technext24.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Sarafadeen-Fasasi.jpeg" alt="Mandatory PoS business registration: operators union plans to take government to court" class="wp-image-231672" width="654" height="654">
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 President of the association Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria, Sarafadeen Fasasi
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He added that the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) referenced by the CBN only mandates the registration of businesses operated under the entity of a company. “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”, he said. 
The President that individual PoS owners are independent operators of companies already registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission. They are sub-agents of fintech/ agency banking companies and have profiles with these financial institutions. 
“Sub agents are not operating as independent companies but branches of a company. For example, while commercial banks operate with bank branches across the country, Fintechs (MMO, super agents, and co) operate with these networks of sub-agents. It is therefore lack of knowledge of the workings in a Fintech/agent banking industry to be tagging sub-agents as illegal,” he further explained. 
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 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="700" height="400" src="https://technext24.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/POS-Nigeria.png" alt="Mandatory CAC registration: PoS operators union plans to take government to court" class="wp-image-231671">
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Calling the order unwarranted and excessive, Sarafadeen believes that it will result in a needless clampdown on PoS banking agents across and lead to job losses, which is contrary to the job creation agenda of the country’s President, Bola Tinubu. 
“We are aware that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has not approved of any policy that will cause unemployment, noting that agent banking has created over 1.9 million jobs in the last few years. Clampdown in the name of CAC registration is not in line with the renewed Hope agenda of Mr. President and we are appealing to Mr. President, the Senate, and the House of reps to intervene”, he concluded.

Mandatory CAC registration: PoS operators union plans to take government to court

Technext.ng

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