By Godfrey AKON
The Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, has raised the alarm over high incidents of applications aimed at registering new companies similar to existing ones with the intent of defrauding them.
Registrar General of CAC, Alhaji Garba Abubakar, said the commission has blocked many of such suspected fraudulent applications.
A statement by the commission’s Head of Media, Rasheed Mahe, said Abubakar, who spoke at a Customers’/Stakeholders Forum in Lagos, said the duplication of company names by some Nigerians was with the intent to take over lands that belong to existing companies.
He said the commission blocked the fraudulent applications to further boost the present administration’s fight against corruption.
According to him, the commission would continue to remain vigilant to ensure that fraudsters don’t take over other companies’ or individuals’ lands.
He further stated that the commission had upon the commencement of the implementation of CAMA, 2020 invoked the provision of Data Privacy and Protection Act to eliminate incidences of presenting cloned signatures to the CAC for registration purposes.
The Registrar General explained further that in view of the provision and other relevant provisions the commission discontinued the issuance of certified true copies of some documents added that certified extracts had replaced CTCs in accordance with provisions of the law.
He lamented that in spite of the provisions of the Data Privacy and Protection Act, some Customers were yet to accept the new arrangement which was invoked to amongst others check fraud and fraud related activities in line with provisions of the law.
While speaking further on the ongoing reform initiatives, the Registrar General said the Commission was reviewing its checklist for some services and assured that next year the CAC will deploy a Customer Relationship Management, CRM, system with a view to resolving customer challenges real-time.
He used the forum to caution accredited agents against sharing with others access to their CAC Portals to guard against fraud and revealed that the Commission had completed work on the Insolvency framework and will soon expose the regulation to the public via its website.
Abubakar noted with delight the support and cooperation of stakeholders particularly the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law, NBA-SBL, and enjoined Customers to continue to cooperate with the Commission as it continues to improve on its operations to deliver better services in accordance with global best practices.
In a goodwill message, the Vice Chairman of the NBA-SBL, Dr. Adeoye Adefulu applauded the commission’s resolve to organize the forum and urged it to sustain the tempo.
He therefore stressed the need for the Commission to ensure what he called regular and continuous engagement with Stakeholders as well as enhance its communication strategy for the benefit of both parties.
