The Registrar General Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Ishaq Hussaini Magaji has called on all social media users, especially content creators to register their activities as business with the commission or risk penalty.

The Nigerian government is soon clamping down on the social media space, by the time the exercise starts if your business online is not registered with the CAC as a business name it will stop operating, the CAC boss hinted.

The RG also stated that any business running for over 28 days and not registered will be penalised, most social media business owners have been running their businesses online without any form of registration from the government, these as far as the government is concerned calls for immediate penalty which will be made known soon.

According to him, “The social media space is a wide space where a lot of transactions are taking place, there is instagram, tiktok, snapchat, facebook twitter, crypto and a whole lot of them. These groups of people are not paying any form of tax to the federal government even though the government is lamenting that the Nigeria tax level is the lowest in the world with only 10% considering how large the country is.”

Citing the law of the company and Allied Matters Act, 2020 particularly section 814 which made it mandatory for any person doing business in his own name to be registered with the Corporal Affairs Commission, Magaji stressed that it is mandatory now it is no longer optional.

“Whatever business you do as long as you have a business name that name must be registered with the CAC.”

Justification for the policy

Justifying the need for the new policy regime, Magaji said the whole idea behind the business names registration is to checkmate terrorism, money laundering and other negative vices in the country.

“President Ahmed Bola Tinubu has given the directives that all businesses must be regularised into the system, this is to encourage youths so the government can track negative activities in the country. Ignorance of the law is therefore not an excuse,” Magaji stated matter-of-factly.

“Another point of note is President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s 50 million jobs for Nigerian youths. Which is presently receiving a boost with the CAC. The business name registration done through the microfinance banks comes with a discount rate for those who cannot afford it if they have to do it on their own.”

Rage over new policy regime

Speaking with some social media users, they lamented what they described as attempts by the government to gag the social media space.

Mercy Peters who spoke with The Nation noted that it will be difficult to regulate, stating that Tiktok is a different world entirely. “Before you make money on Tiktok you go through a live video and people come to your live video to gift card, some people can send you dollars or pounds in what is called live, when you get this money it can be withdrawn at the end of the live video meaning you have acquired multiple followers.

“For me I cannot earn because I do not have followers that support me that much. The government can have a hold on tiktokers because most of them are instagram influencers as they get their endorsements from instagram. Tiktokers can be regulated through their instagram page even though it is a very large community. For the government to regulate social media influencers it has to be through their instagram page because instagram is the power house.

“Once you get blown from tiktok you move to instagram because that is where as a social media influencer you make your money, you get endorsement and become ambassador. They pay on snapchat. It is more like a digital marketing app, where people can advertise their products. For you to make an impact on snapchat and be paid you should have at least five thousand and above followers, this qualifies you as a subscriber, then you start boosting your account.” (The Nation)

Update news