More informal businesses in the country will soon be formalized as Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA) seeks partnership with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to register 2,000 Micro and Small Businesses for free in the Federal Capital Territory FCT.
The Managing Director/CEO, Abuja Enterprise Agency, Shehu Abdulkadir who stated this in Abuja on Wednesday during a courtesy call on the Registrar General of the CAC, Alhaji Garba Abubakar said the proposal was to complement the just concluded Federal Government’s free registration of 250,000 business names.
A statement by the Head, Media of the commission Rasheed Mahe, indicates that Shehu Abdulkadir says the plan will also boost President Buhari’s commitment to lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years, also revealed that 6 Area Councils of the FCT will be covered in the proposed project.
He therefore requested the CAC to grant a 50% waiver to enable them undertake the project aimed at formalizing 2,000 informal businesses amongst other objectives.
While speaking further on the activities of the AEA which has poverty alleviation as a key mandate, the Managing Director said since its creation in 2006, the agency had promoted a series of youth entrepreneurship schemes involving mostly youth corps members who later become self-employed.
Alh Shehu Abdulkadir further revealed that by the AEA mandate, they were involved in the training of 362 retiring Staff of the FCT to amongst others ensure that they remain happy after retirement.
He used the forum to applaud the series of reform initiatives being implemented by the Commission under the leadership of Alhaji Garba Abubakar and urged him to sustain the tempo.
While speaking on the just concluded FG’s free 250,000 registration of business names which the AEA served as the Aggregator for Abuja, Shehu Abdulkadir expressed satisfaction with the support and cooperation received from the CAC.
He also commended the CAC for maintaining the best and most visited Stand out of 14 Agencies present at the One-stop shop located within the AEA premises and the deployment of what he called an excellent Officer to facilitate the project.
Responding, the Registrar General/CEO of the Corporate Affairs Commission, Alhaji Garba Abubakar noted with delight the proposal of the AEA which he said had a long standing friendly working relationship with Commission.
Alhaji Garba Abubakar therefore pledged to accord priority attention to the proposal by obtaining necessary Government approval to kick start the project in record time.
He used the forum to restate his commitment to continue to pursue meaningful reform initiatives aimed at ensuring that the CAC operate in line with global best practices.
It would be recalled that the Corporate Affairs Commission had recently closed the registration of the free 250, 000 business names which commenced on 19th October, 2020 across the 36 States of the country.
The project formed part of the Federal Government’s post-Covid-19 Pandemic survival intervention to support micro and small businesses to formalize their businesses.
During the period, the Federal Government approved the free registration of 6,606 Business Names in each of the 34 states while Abia, Lagos, and Kano had 7,906, 9,084 and 8,406 respectively.
Auwalu Muhammed, Kaduna