The Nation Newspaper

Tag: registration

  • NAFDAC crashes MSMEs registration fee by 50 %

    NAFDAC crashes MSMEs registration fee by 50 %

    The National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has reduced the cost of registring products from Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by 50 per cent for companies with five or less than five employees, in line with Federal Government’s policy on Ease of Doing Business (EDB).

    Speaking during NAFDAC Stakeholders Consultative Forum on Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria, at Mambayya House, Kano yesterday, the Acting Director-General of NAFDAC, Mr. Ademola Mogbojuri, who was represented by NAFDAC Director, Special Duties, Dr. Abubakar Jimoh, explained that the rationale behind the reduction was to encourage MSMES to solidly stand on their feet and continue to contribute their quota to the economic development of the country.

    He also stated that NAFDAC has also concluded plans to reduce registration time by 90 days, adding that, “NAFDAC is to implement 50 per cent reduction in cost of registration of products for companies with five or less than five employees.”

    According to him, NAFDAC has also worked out modalities for the establishment of Small Business Support Desk (SBSD) to guide small business through registration process, which will also serve as enquiry point for small business on regulatory issues.

  • Oyo AD to start massive registration

    Oyo AD to start massive registration

    The Oyo State Alliance for Democracy (AD) has concluded arrangement for massive registration of old and new members.

    A statement at the end of an inter-faith prayer meeting at the party’s Yemetu, Ibadan, state secretariat said the massive registration was aimed at officially bringing together like-minds under the AD platform to wrest power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019.

    Signed by Dr Akin Onigbinde (SAN) and a former AD Minority Whip in the House of Representatives, Babatunde Oduyoye, the statement said the massive registration would allow true progressives and those genuinely interested in restoring Oyo State to have a solid platform to actualise the ambition.

    It added that the tradition of fulfilling electoral promises and catering for the welfare of the citizenry remained a major credential of true progressives in the AD.

  • CAC designs portal for company registration

    CAC designs portal for company registration

    The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has introduced an online registration method aimed at curbing the menace of fraudsters and middlemen. Its Acting Registrar-General, Lady Azuka Azinge, who spoke at a sensitisation programme in Kano, said the online registration method would go a long way in curbing hiccups and ambiguities hitherto associated with registration of companies in the country.

    She said the sensitisation visit was organised in collaboration with the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), adding that the intention was to bring together the management of the Commission, stakeholders and members of the public to interact on issues pertaining to the current reform initiatives of the Commission in providing an enabling business environment in the country.

    “The Kano sensitisation programme, which is the second in the series, is in pursuant to the 60 days Action Plan of the Federal Government on Ease of Doing Business in  Nigeria,” she said, adding that the first visit was held in Lagos on the October 19.

    In her goodwill message, Senior Special Assistant to Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, represented by Ms. Rebecca Dokun,  hailed the CAC reform initiatives and urged stakeholders and members of the public to take advantage of the company registration portal to register their business directly without hitches.

  • FG urges entrepreneurs to follow due process in business registration

    In order to ease ways of doing business in Nigeria, the Federal Government has urged members of the public to follow due processes and not circumvent the new procedures put in place by the Corporate Affairs Corporation to register new companies and business names in 24 hours.

    Speaking  in Lagos, during the Corporate Affairs Commission sensitization programme on its reforms initiatives on ease of doing business in Nigeria,  the Secretary, Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, said when the “sensitisation visits” of CAC kicked off in Lagos, that, with the reform processes embarked upon by the CAC, entrepreneurs can now register their businesses online within 24 hours.

    Oduwole said the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was serious about implementing the 60-day Action Plan on Ease of Doing Business, part of which the CAC was implementing by simplifying its business registration processes.

    She singled out the CAC as one of the government agencies, which had keyed in to the government agenda, urging members of the public to visit its website as the commission has integrated and consolidated its processes, even as it had opened more offices all over the federation.

    According to Oduwole: “Government also values feedbacks from members of the public, to enable us improve the procedures and processes. It is a marathon, and we would all get to the golden height.”

    The Acting Registrar General, Azuka Azinge, informed the stakeholders and participants of the Commission’s reform initiatives on Ease of Doing Business and registration services. She stated that the Commission had deployed the Company Registration Portal (CRP), which enables registration services online 24/7. Entrepreneurs and members of the public can now register their businesses online from the comfort of their homes and offices within 24 hours.

    Azinge also disclosed that the commission has extended its working hours to 7p.m Monday-Fridays in six of its offices; at Abuja, Lagos, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Kano. In all of these offices, manual registration had been phased out since 15th May, 2017 and registration services can only be done online. The Commission intends to phase out manual registration in 10 more offices nationwide. These are Ilorin, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Uyo, Asaba, Lokoja, Bauchi, Sokoto, Jos and Owerri before the end of the year.

    She said the Do It Yourself (DIY) registration is a feat, which has been attained with the introduction of the CRP. In order to complement the online services, the Commission has functional helplines to assist the public in their enquiries and complaints on services.

    The CAC embarked on the tour as part of the commission’s efforts towards deepening communication with its customers and the event was well-attended by stakeholders from the public and private sectors, including the NBA, NACCIMA, ICAN, USAID, FIRS, BOI, SMEDAN, SON, NASME and NAFDAC.

    At the programme, while the CAC compliance Officer, Mr Luqman Salam was on hand to present highlights of CAC reforms since 2016, there was  a panel discussion on ABC’s of entity registration through CAC online company registration portal.

  • SON reduces product registration time to 60 days

    SON reduces product registration time to 60 days

    • Group denies cloned electrical parts

    The Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr. Osita Aboloma, has said 60 days will, henceforth, be the deadline for product registration, adding that it aligns with the government policy on ease of doing business.

    Speaking during a sensitisation forum between SON and Alaba Electrical Dealers Association of Nigeria (EDAN) in Lagos, at the weekend, he said the standards agency had come out with simplified processes to encourage more businessmen to register their products.

    He discouraged them from copying other people’s brands, adding that it was an economic crime to counterfeit genuine products. While urging the traders to desist from cloning successful products and importing counterfeited products into the country, Aboloma promised that SON will automate the process of product registration and reduce human interference.

    According to him when the agency destroyed substandard goods, it indirectly affects the economy because it is billions of naira that was destroyed. He warned that any importer that is apprehended will face the full wrath of the law as the Attorney-General’s office is  partnering with SON to ensure that such people are prosecuted  to serve as example to would-be offenders.

    Meanwhile, EDAN has stepped up its game by coming under the Standard Organisation Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) for locally manufactured cables and wires and SON Mandatory Assessment Programmes (SONCAP) for imported cables.

    A patron of the market, Mr. Okolo Benjamin, said the allegation of the presence of fake and substandard electrical goods in the market was exaggerated.

    He appealed to SON to continuously engage the traders on the negative effects of fake and sub-standard goods rather than vilification.

    Earlier, EDAN Chairman, Mr. Fabian Ezereadi Ezeorjika, commended the collaborative effort between the association and SON and said before now, many of his members were driven by profit rather than the safety of lives, property and nationalism and imported life threatening products into the country.

    He lamented that many EDAN members who refused to do the right things lost millions of naira to either confiscation or outright destruction by SON.

    He urged his members to key into the standardisation policy of the Federal Government.

    He said to check the infiltration of cloned electrical materials into the market, the association introduced SON market desk while encouraging their members to ensure that all products are properly registered.

    “We constituted an ad hoc committee named standard and anti-adulteration committees, vested with the statutory responsibilities of standardising and regulating quality of imported products,’’ he added.

  • Edo APC to begin biometric registration of members

    Edo APC to begin biometric registration of members

    The Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has indicated that it would soon commence the biometric registration of its members across the 192 wards.

    It said the decision to do a biometric registration of its members was reached after an enlarged meeting of the state Working Committee with local government party chairmen.

    Its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Chris Azebamwan, who stated this at a media briefing, said the registration would help to strengthen the membership base of the party ahead of the 2019 general elections.

    Azebamwan said the initiative would help to boost the party’s membership drive, as members of the public would have the opportunity to join and contribute their quota towards the development of the APC.

    He said: “All matters relating to indiscipline within the rank and file in the party have been resolved and closed.”

    The Publicity Secretary said the party has successfully monitored its  performance index in the state ahead of future polls.

    He said the party has established a feedback mechanism through the engagement of 192 Special Assistants to Governor Godwin Obaseki.

  • Reps to meet NAFDAC on herbal products registration

    Reps to meet NAFDAC on herbal products registration

    The House Committee on Health has assured traditional medicine practitioners across the country that it will address the problems with  local medicines registration.

    The Committee members made the promise during their oversight function visit to the Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA) in Lagos.

    The committee said it would meet with the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) officials to  address the problem.

    The  House Committee on Health Chairman, Hon Beni Lar, said though it was not part of its work of the House to oversee NAFDAC,   based on the complaints by many agencies and practitioners of traditional medicine, who briefed the  members, the Committee would do assist.

    Mrs Lar said: “We all know that NAFDAC is set up and regulated by an Act and it has a Board, likewise a Committee in the House that oversees its activities. We, as Honourable members, will like to engage our colleagues that oversee NAFDAC to see how we can have a roundtable discussion to iron out some of these issues on registration of traditional medicines across the country.

    “We will want to aggregate ideas, observations and solutions across board to remove the bottle necks so that Nigerian indigenous traditional medicinal products can be easily registered by NAFDAC at affordable cost and for easy marketing, even to the point of exporting to improve on FOREX. All should know that we are legislature and not executive arm of government.”

    Mrs Lar continued: “We will beam the searchlight on NAFDAC to see what it is doing wrong in traditional medicine registration to the point of its being reputed for being slow and painstakingly difficult which lead to the demoralising the innovation of producers of indigenous traditional herbal medicines.

    “It is in the pipeline of this committee to invite all the agencies under the Ministry of Science and Technology to a meeting with NAFDAC representatives to find a solution. We will appreciate if all these agencies under Ministry of Science and Technology put in writing all their observations and hindrances to registration of their products with NAFDAC and we will be able to engage the right people on it, so we do not have these issues again.’’

    She said since NNMDA was established in 1997 to enable the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology  to promote the natural medicine, it was gladdening that it had fulfilled some of the roles.

    “You’ve produced some of the best products as answers to identified communicable diseases, and some of these products are awaiting NAFDAC registration, we can’t wait to see that as a recorded success because part of the reasons for this agency’s existence is promotion of natural medicine- traditional/indigenous healthcare systems, medications and non-medications healing arts, science and technology and assist facilitate their integration into the national healthcare delivery system, as well as contribute to the nation’s wealth and job creation, social-economic growth and development effort,” she said.

    Also, she said money generated from the sales of those products would be ploughed into NNMDA.

    On the entourage of the committee are Hon Kehinde Agboola, Hon Ibrahim A. Isiaka, Hon Azodo Eucharia; Clerk, Michael Egwu and his assistant, Chukwuemeka Ejimonye and Nanre Fashep.

    NNMDA Director-General, Samuel Etatuvie, said funding and understaffing, especially of experts and researchers were the major challenges facing the agency.

    Etatuvie said: “We have done so much with little resources, including installing driers, production machines and refurbishing of the buildings where we work. We need more human resources to be on the field because our work involves research. We have submitted the list of our requirements and employment recommendations to the parent body – Ministry of Science and Technology and awaiting further directives.

    “The agency can do more with adequate funding. There are capital projects embarked on and part of them is NAFDAC registration. We are already at the final stages. Once we get the Registration Numbers that will make them to be commercially viable and we will roll them into the market.’’

    Etatuvie said his agency had documented a lot of compendia on medicinal plants  with support from Raw material Research and Development Council (RMRDC).

    “We do not want indigenous herbal healing prowess of our forefathers to go into extinction. We know generations yet unborn will tap into these compendia and make this country proud. We have published research works and findings and we are not resting on our oars. We have herbarium and data base farm and also digital library. We have a prototype solar dryer designed, constructed and installed at Jesse farm in Delta State,” Etatuvie said.

    He said to fulfill the vision of  the institute, its “funding should be improved on; likewise to get more capable hands for the agency’’.

    He identified some of the research products of the agency awaiting NAFDAC nod to include Naturedmed tonic tea based on the traditional knowledge on Nigerian Hibiscus sabdariffa as a relaxant and blood pressure reducer; improved samples of mosquito repellant; Naturemed herbal arthritis designed as topical application to assist manages arthritis; and Naturedmed medicated soap, a bath soap to assist manage topical ailments, such as scabies, fungal infections and opportunistic skin infections of HIV.

    “We are proud to be part of the solution to the 85 percent of people in Sub-Sahara Africa who depend on traditional medicine not only for healthcare delivery but also for – psychological, socio-economic and cultural, and community issues. For most of these people, traditional medicine is the only source of health care delivery known and available, accessible and affordable.

    “For all the revolutionary and dramatic improvements in human health care in the 21st Century, life in much of Africa begins and is sustained with the support of traditional medicine. In many parts of Africa, the number of traditional health practitioners far outnumber that of allopathic doctors – medical doctors is 1: 20,000 and traditional practitioners is 1: 200, according to the National Demographic and health Survey Report,” Etatuvie said.

    The DG conducted the visiting Committee round the agency’s premises, showing them some  critical equipment, such as rotary evaporator, stainless blender, rotary extractor, UV-Visible photospectrometre, PH metre, heater with Strirrer, and Atomic absorption Spectrophotometre.

    There was also digital herb scanner with printer, which Etatuvie explained, were tools for  medicinal plant identification and taxonomy for teaching, research, documentation, conservation, cultivation, and entrepreneurship development in the promotion of natural medicine and products.

  • Cost of business registration in Nigeria now cheaper– CAC

    Cost of business registration in Nigeria now cheaper– CAC

    The Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Mr. Bello Mahmud, said on Tesday in Abuja that the cost of business registration in Nigeria was now cheaper and its process simplified to enable small entrepreneurs to register their businesses.

    Muhmud announced this in a statement by Head, Public Affairs, CAC, Mr Godfrey Ike.

    Muhmud disclosed this while addressing the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Clinic.

    He said that with the Company Registration Portal (CRP), any member of the public could now register businesses on-line at the comfort of their homes and offices.

    “This has drastically reduced the registration cost hitherto charged by professional middlemen (Lawyers, Accountants and Chartered Secretaries), in the registration process.

    “Entrepreneurs who had already registered their businesses have the obligation to file Annual Returns with the Commission as and when due.

    ” Failure to file Annual Returns will result to striking-off of such defaulting entities on ground of dormancy.

    ” The MSME Clinic is an initiative of the Office of the Vice President, which is aimed at holistically addressing all the operational challenges and bottlenecks of MSME in Nigeria,” Muhmud said.

    According to him, the commission is one of the critical government agencies that has been participating in the on-going nationwide MSME Clinic that commenced in Aba in January.

    He added that the MSME Clinic was expected to be held in all states of the federation.

    “So far, the Clinic has been held in 13 states of the federation,” he said.

    According to him, other relevant agencies like FIRS, SON, Bank Of Industry (BOI), NAFDAC, SMEDAN participated in the clinic. (NAN)

  • INEC and Continuous Voters Registration

    In April 27, in what can be described as voluntary strict adherence to the provisions of the law, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) embarked on Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise across the 774 local government areas in Nigeria. It was the first time in the history of the nation’s electoral system. INEC said the exercise was aimed at giving ample opportunity to Nigerians that attain the constitutional age of 18 and other eligible persons to have their names on voters’ register.

    There is no doubt that there can’t be a credible election without a credible voters register. It is thus inexplicable why previous INEC leadership failed to conduct continuous voters’ registration, as prescribed by the Electoral Act, which would have produced near perfect register. Even the immediate past chairman of the commission, Prof Attahiru Jega, was no exception, despite his pristine overall performance. Before the 2015 general election, INEC under him registered voters for a maximum of 11 days in any given state of the federation. Some state had only four days for voters’ registration! That was why, partly I think, most voters said they couldn’t receive their permanent cards before the general election.

    Thus, the decision by the Prof Mahmood Yakubu-led INEC to commence a registration process that would run continuously for almost two years into the next general election is indeed commendable. There would be enough time to ensure all eligible, and desiring, voters get registered. More importantly, there would be sufficient time to guarantee a clean and credible voters register. At least names of Mike Tyson and Bill Clinton would not possibly creep into our voters register as they did during the tenures of Jega and Yakubu’s predecessors.

    However, some electorates have complained that the registration centres were far from their places of residence. These are mostly people who live outside their local government headquarters, which are the designated areas for the exercise. I really felt concerned when I first saw the report about this (and by the way, I still do).

    It is a naked truth that most communities in the country are several miles away from their local government headquarters, which may ultimately result in discouraging some eligible persons from expending their hard-earned resources on such a gruelling adventure. But in a country that has been battling with the ugly pangs of a crippling recession, the decision to limit the exercise to the local government headquarters is a well-thought out decision that balances the demands of the law, the eligible voters and that of the nation’s struggling economy.

    The electoral umpire, Yakubu has said, is currently spending zero kobo on personnel to register voters at local government headquarters, since its staffers in those areas are doing the work. However, INEC doesn’t have workers at the polling units. So it will need to spend about N1.379 billion every day to pay hoc staff in the 119,973 polling units. Imagine! More than one billion naira every day, in this hash economy where other important sectors are competing for attention.

    Furthermore, I found out that INEC’s approved budget for the whole of this year can’t even pay for the workers needed at the polling units. “The provision for CVR (Continuous Voters Registration) in the commission’s 2017 budget is N1, 216, 346,068 for all Voter Registry Department’s activities, including off-season elections that have become regular since the 2015 General Election,” Yakubu said. That falls below the N1.379 billion needed for the daily wages of ad hoc staff.

    While access to register by all eligible persons is crucial to election credibility, expanding the continuous voters registration exercise to the 119,973 polling units in the country would have also cost INEC the sum of N137.4 billion, in a country whose 10 months financial releases for all capital projects of federal government was N635.7 billion in 2016.

    Besides proximity, some have also complained about the failure of some of the Direct Data Capturing (DDC) machines. While it is not something new for mechanical devices to sometime malfunction or fail to work as in the some reported cases, it was however assuring that INEC said it was thoroughly proactive by making sure such machines were replaced with immediate alacrity.

    My major concern on the exercise, which was a great fulfilment of the law as it also met the yearning millions of Nigerians who craved to be part of the electoral process, was the question raised on the location of the registration centres at the local government headquarters. In the past, voters’ registration was only tied to elections. It was only conducted intermittently rather than continuously as enshrined in the Electoral Act despite the fact that the credibility of a democratic election largely depends on a credible and regular updated voters’ register. That is why many stakeholders have commended INEC in bringing about such cutting-edge changes aimed at ensuring credibility and transparency in all elections.

    Extending the registration to the 8,809 registration areas (ward level) nationwide, as some have suggested, would have meant INEC coughing out not less than N21 billion to carry out the exercise, while at the local government headquarters level, the entire cost is not more than N463 million per quarter. In the past when registration held at the ward level, complaints of inadequate Direct Data Capturing machine, poor power supply and faulty machines, among others, had characterized the exercise. Moreover, the exercise only lasted for few days.

    However, INEC should pay attention to the complaints in some states that the exercise is at a snail-speed, in comparison with other states. Media reports had it that Akwa Ibom, Anambra and Osun states have an average of only 30 voters registering daily. That figures, if true, sure pan into insignificance when compared to the ones from other states.

    Nevertheless, INEC has done well for starting this process two years ahead of general election and making it continuous. It is therefore the duty of the rest of us to ensure we register, collect our cards, and wisely use it to select those we want manage our collective wealth.

     

    • Ossai is a former newspaper editor.

  • Oyo to get residents’ registration agency

    The Oyo State government has submitted a bill to the House of Assembly to establish an agency that will register and manage residents’ data.

    Speaker Michael Adeyemo broke the news to The Nation in Ibadan the state capital.

    Adeyemo said the bill was on the second stage of consideration, indicating that it will most likely scale through all legislation hurdles.

    The lawmaker said the agency would be responsible for registering residents across the state, adding that it would update the data and manage it for planning purposes.

    He said: “There is a bill that is currently at the second reading stage in the House. It will address the issue of having Oyo State Resident Registration Agency in such a way that we will have an agency that will take care of the registration of all residents for the purpose of planning, expansion and development of facilities across the state.

    “The data will also be useful for security because we must know who and who are residents of the state. So, the government is thinking along that line. I can assure you that the Assembly is going to speed up the work on it and pass the bill into law. I believe the agency will be set up. I think the registration will begin as soon as possible.”

    The project may lead to the introduction of residents’ identification cards, which will also help the government to plan social welfare services and projects across the state.