The new Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Registrar-General Hussaini Magaji says he uncovered 189 fake companies positioned to defraud well-meaning Nigerians within one week after assuming office.

Magaji told newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja that the commission arrested a syndicate of criminals which specialised in operating numerous unregistered companies.

One of the milestone achievements upon my assumption of duty is our ability to burst a ring of criminals that are creating havoc in the commission.

About 189 fake companies have been identified to be used by these groups of persons to secure lands.

We discovered that these non existing entities collaborate with lawyers who claim to be accredited agents with the commission.

They collaborate with some staff of the Abuja Geographical Information System, (AGIS), manage their way to make applications at the AGIS and take priority over existing applications.

With the collaboration of security agents we arrested the suspect who had volunteered some information, he said.

He said the suspect was arrested due a complaint from the FCTA asking the commission to verify some applications made bysome entities.

He said upon findings, the commission discovered that the companies were not even in existence.

The nature of their crime is that they create a fake entity and apply for land at the FCTA and manoeuvre their way to have a priority application over an existing application.

To take over the land and they have succeeded severally in the past.

The CAC scribe then reiterated his commitment to deter others from engaging in such acts.

On plans for the Commission,Magaji said more efforts would be geared towards increasing revenue for the Commission.

The registrar- general said upon his assumption to duty,he came up with some agendas among which is human capital development.

I think this is essential to the discharge of the responsibilities of any staff in the commission and we are taking it seriously.

Followed by the welfare of staff; this is one of the issues we met in the commission that is lingering and creating havoc in the commission.

So we have plans to address it as soon as possible; we have set an agenda and will discuss it in our next management meeting, he said.

The CAC boss however enjoined the staff to also ensure to play their part towards moving the organisation forward even as the management was making moves to do theirs.

On ease of doing business, he said it was one of the priorities of the President Bola Tinubus administration and the Commission would work at ensuring that.

That is one of the reasons why we are not talking about reviewing charges. One of the key things we will also do is to further simplify the process of registration,he said.

Magaji was appointed as the registrar-General of the Commission on Oct. 13. (Nigerian Tribune)