The Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN) has slammed the federal government over the recently mandatory registration of Point of Sales operators in Nigeria, saying it is an attempt to tax more Nigerians to generate revenue for the government
The National General Secretary of the group, Oluwasegun Elegbede, made this known in a statement on Tuesday.
He discountenanced the Corporate Affairs Commission’s (CAC)’s claim of fighting PoS crime through registration, noting that the types of crimes being committed through PoS cannot be tackled with registration.
While the CAC had recently announced that the PoS operators have until July 7, 2024, to get registered, the AMMBAN Secretary said the CAC is already threatening to deploy the police to go after agents who fail to register by that date.
“AMMBAN strongly disagrees with the recent directive by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) that all POS agents must register with it, regardless of their status as individuals or non-individuals.
“We believe this directive is unnecessary, contradictory to existing laws, and amounts to a mere revenue generation move to further tax hapless Nigerians.
READ ALSO:CBN gives deadline for PoS operators to register with CAC
“We disagree with the CAC’s claim that it wants to fight crimes in the agency banking business space through registration. We believe that the kind of crimes in the space are both human and technical, which CAC registration cannot fight,” the group added.
AMMBAN argued that many of the PoS agents are individuals and registration for them is not mandatory by law.
The group backed their claims with section 18(1) of CAMA, which states that “a person may apply to the Commission for the registration of a company” and Section 22(1), which states that “a company shall be deemed to be a separate legal entity from its members.”
The group noted that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy on financial inclusion and development states that “agency banking services shall be provided by agents who are individuals or non-individuals (companies) registered with the CBN.”
“This policy clearly recognizes the distinction between individuals and non-individuals and does not require individuals to register with the CAC,” AMMBAN said.
By: Babajide Okeowo
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