CAC, Lawyers’ Face-Off Over Certificate Mailing Policy Escalates

By Francis Arinze Iloani

The impasse between the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and lawyers over the newly introduced mailing system for registered company certificates escalated on Monday with protesting lawyers carrying placards in front of the CAC’s headquarters expressing their opposition to the new policy.

Apart from denouncing the new policy, the protesters also alleged that the latest policy measure amounted to institutional failure under the leadership of the Registrar General, Alhaji Garba Abubakar.

The Registrar General had said there was no going back on the new mailing system, as the

Commission had eliminated all manual searches by customers which in the past he alleged had compromised some official records.

He explained that the latest mailing option was required to eliminate all hitches in documentation so as to safeguard the integrity of the records, alleging that in the past some lawyers were apprehended with stolen documents from the CAC.

Specifically, the Registrar General said about two weeks ago, a lawyer was apprehended forging signatures, adding that “his specialization is when documents are queried for irregular signatures; he signs again for the customers. This was because sometimes a document might be presented and our staff will observe inconsistency in the signature.”

He further alleged that there had been cases where whole files were removed from CAC.

Justifying the position of the Commission, Abubakar said, “No Registry around the world has physical contact with its customers. We have followed suit and have eliminated all manual searches. We will do a report and give it to the customers. It has become necessary to safeguard the integrity of the records we are keeping.”

However, some of the protesting lawyers denied the accusation, adding that the CAC boss is just using it to smear their reputation.