The Corporate Affairs Commission has encouraged social media content creators, Instagram users, and TikTok users with significant followers to register their businesses in compliance with the Company and Allied Matters Act 2020.
This initiative coincides with reported intentions by the Federal Inland Revenue Service to include media content and influencers in its tax system.
The Registrar General of CAC, Hussaini Magaji, conveyed this message during a courtesy visit by the Managing Director of Opay, Dauda Gotring, and his team in Abuja on Tuesday.
Magaji said, “Ignorance of the law is not an excuse. It is stated in the Company and Allied Matters 2020 that for any business to take place in Nigeria, whether you are doing business with your name or another name, you must surrender your business for registration,”
He added, “If you are a content creator on the internet and you have a large followership and you are gaining or making money from it, you must register and that’s the provision of the law”
He stressed the agency will enforce the dictates with penalities, saying, “And we are all out to enforce the provision of the law with its penalties.”
He added, “This cannot go on, these groups of people are under mandate to register as a business considering the amount they make from the content creation. The government is all out to ensure every business in Nigeria, no matter what or how, is registered with the CAC,”
“The commission is registering another batch of 300,000 business names from Opay.”
The head of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) highlighted that social media and content creators are generating substantial revenue without contributing any taxes to the Federal Government.
This initiative aligns with his goal to register 20 million businesses in 2024 and create 50 million job opportunities for Nigerian youths.
In response, the Managing Director of Opay emphasized that Opay’s operations are designed to provide banking services to individuals in the country who are currently unbanked.
“Opay is ready to partner with CAC to ensure these groups of people have their businesses registered, with their consent though,” he said.
