In response to the directive by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for Point of Sales (PoS) operators to register with it, the body, the “Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN)” says it has concluded plans to head to court to address the legality of the directive.
President of the association, Fasasi Sarafadeen, faulted the directive mandating PoS operators to register with the CAC, saying the move had forced the association to go to court to seek a redress.
Sarafadeen said the directive from the CAC violated the provision of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, which “explicitly states that the commission has no jurisdiction over individuals not operating as a company”.
“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”, he said.
Explaining the categories, he stated that there were two categories of Point-of-Sale agents.
“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 explained.
He noted that sub-agents are independent branches of a company already registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
“Sub agents are not carrying out as an independent company 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 a network 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 added.
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.
“The Corporate Affairs Commission should prioritise addressing the alarming failure rate of registered businesses in Nigeria, rather than targeting sub-agents. With over 4.9 million businesses registered, 50 per cent of which fail every five years, this should be the focus.
“In addition, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s memo specifically addressed non-individual agents, not individual sub-agents, and CAC’s threat to harass sub-agents is unwarranted and excessive”, he added.
He noted that the clampdown on agent banking in the name of CAC registration was not in line with President Bola Tinubu’s renewed Hope agenda, which prioritises job creation and opposes policies that cause unemployment.
“We are aware that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is 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 as they did for the anti-masses policy of cyber security levy.
“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 stated.
The Federal Government through the Corporate Affairs Commission had issued a two-month registration deadline for Point of Sales companies, to register their agents, merchants, and individuals with the commission in line with legal requirements and the directives of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The agreement was reached during a meeting between Fintechs and the Registrar-General CAC, Hussaini Ishaq Magaji, in Abuja.
CAC said the move would curb kidnapping and payment of ransoms.
According to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, there are over 1.9 million PoS terminals deployed by merchants and individuals nationwide.
This new directive came against the backdrop of frequent fraud incidents involving POS terminals and plans to stop trading in cryptocurrency or any virtual currency by the Central Bank of Nigeria. POS terminals accounted for 26.37 per cent of fraud incidents in 2023, according to a fraud report by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc.
Last week, the CBN stopped major fintech firms like Kuda, Opay, PalmPay, and Moniepoint from onboarding new customers and instructed the companies to warn their customers against trading in cryptocurrency or any virtual currency on their apps, threatening to block any accounts found engaging in such activities.
The CBN’s move was linked to an ongoing audit of the Know-Your-Customer process of the fintechs, which have been under scrutiny in recent months over concerns around money laundering and terrorism financing.
Before the CBN’s directive, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had obtained a court order to freeze at least 1,146 bank accounts owned by various individuals and companies allegedly involved in illegal foreign exchange transactions.

An expert in maritime law, Emeka Akabogu, has faulted the Non-Disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), which has seen the maritime industry in Nigeria lose over $1trillion to foreign players in the local shopping industry, when the industry is capable of generating N7trillion annually.
Akabogu made this disclosure recently in his presentation at the maiden interactive session with maritime stakeholders in Lagos, saying one of the principal mandates of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is to develop and implement policies and programmes that will facilitate growth of local shipping capacities.
According to him, the industry can also adequately contribute to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), adding that the maritime sector is potentially the largest economic sector outside oil and gas.
Nigeria’s untapped blue economy potential, he continued, is valued at $296 billion, and that the sector can also generate 2 million jobs over 5 years.
“Over the course of the last five years or so, the subject of ‘the blue economy’ has become very popular in Nigeria, and severally adumbrated at diverse fora. This must have played a part in the decision of President Bola Tinubu to create the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, a major milestone seen as the culmination of years of advocacy in the industry, and welcomed by many.
“However, we must now go beyond the euphoria of the emergent semantics to interrogating the substance and charting an effective course for Maritime Nigeria.
“The blue economy incorporates everything we know and have been dealing with about the traditional maritime economy, in addition to the entirety of value accruable from all water-bodies”, he said.

Barely 48 hours after Multichoice alerted subscribers to a three-day technical downtime, telecommunication companies have expressed concern over possible connectivity disruptions as construction advances on the 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
While the DStv and GOtv owner acknowledged the anticipated impact of the ongoing Lagos-Calabar construction project on their uplink facilities, telcos have expressed broader concerns emphasising the vital role of telecommunication service and the effect of possible anticipated technical disruption.
The Lagos-Calabar coastal highway corridor serves as a crucial landing point for multiple submarine cables connecting Nigeria to Europe
The cables, including the West Africa Cable System (WACS), MainOne, Glo1, ACE, and NCSCS, are vital for international communications and data transmission in the country.
The Federal Executive Council approved Phase One of the ambitious 700-km Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project in February, entrusting the task to Hitech Construction Company Limited.
The highway project was designed to connect Lagos to Cross River, passing through the coastal states of Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Edo Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom, before culminating in Cross River.
The demolition of numerous properties and recreational centres in Lagos has been carried out to expedite the construction of the highway.
In the light of the developments, telcos stressed the necessity of stakeholder consultations with the Ministry of Works to address potential risks and implement robust mitigation measures.
While dialogue with the Federal Government is yet to happen, telcos have warned Hitech Construction to exercise caution to prevent damage to critical national infrastructure.
Speaking to newsmen, the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, confirmed that the Ministry of Works had yet to engage the telcos on environmental impact assessment.
The ALTON Chairman said the Ministry of Works, headed by David Umahi, had engaged some stakeholders but excluded the telecom operators.
“The Ministry of Works has not approached us, and I’m unsure if environmental impact assessments have been conducted. The route is crucial for the landing of numerous submarine cables, so caution is essential.
“Some members have reached out to them, urging caution. As the Chairman of the industry, I can affirm that ALTON members were not consulted regarding the assessment of the undersea cable within that right of way”, he explained.
Adebayo revealed that some of its members had written to the works ministry on the matter over the need for a dialogue. He, however, said the body had yet to get any response.
He added that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had been engaged to facilitate talks with the ministry.
“We’ve informed the Nigeria Communications Commission about this issue, and they are attempting to contact the Ministry of Works. However, I can confirm that neither we nor any of our members were contacted. This is on record. We were not included in the stakeholder consultations, and we’re concerned about the actions being taken”, he stated.