Corporate Affairs Commission Under Fire in 100 Million Naira Legal Suit

The questionable legal practices in the field of incorporating new businesses, the non-tracing of customer files, name search delays, equipment breakdowns on purpose, and the denial of an accredited customer the right the make a living, is just part of numerous claims in a 100 million naira lawsuit filed in Abuja.
The target here is the Corporate Affairs Commission, an agency set-up to help new businesses, and industries, flourish in Nigeria. The lawsuit paints a disturbing picture of just how the agency does just the opposite.
The lawsuit, filed by Ashimole Felix Chukwuma, in the Federal High Court Holden in Abuja, lists more than 25 accounts of offenses in the Statement of Claim. SaharaReporters obtained a copy of the complaint shortly after it was lodged. The lawsuit targets two officials inside the mammoth agency who Felix Chukwuma said, has had him blocked, stopped, and even arrested, while trying to gain answers to questions over delays, non-responses to his customer queries, and overall poor service.
Felix Chukwuma is a legal practitioner with a ten-year post representing numerous Nigerian firms going through the incorporation and registering process. He has been an accredited customer of the Corporate Affairs Commission dating back to 2006. He also comes with an impressive track record of firms he has represented for long periods, including, Bashorn Holdings Limited, and the NigerBash Properties Company.
As such, the filing of this lawsuit from a prominent member of the small business community not only raises eyebrows in the sector, but also, draws unwanted attention to an agency that prefers to operate out of the headlines.
What he has encountered in recent years, the suit says, has been a situation that has only gotten worse in dealing with the agency. Many in the business community consider Felix Chukwuma to be a kind of vanguard in the fight to demand improved services from the commission. The poor service items include, the constant grounding of computers and IT services; a failure to post incorporated documents already paid for, in customer files; lateness in name searches; and a culture of ‘foot-dragging’ that has led to “great losses in revenue” to customers, and met with, unfriendly customer service from general agency staff.
The downward spiral of poor service Felix Chukwuma explained, led to the publication of a shocking publication called ‘KUBWA EXPRESS.’ In it, the publication detailed the inner workings of the commission that fails, time and again, to “live up to the responsibilities owed to their customers.” Since the publication of ‘Kubwa Express,’ Felix Chukwuma says he has been the target of harassment from at least two officials inside the agency. His lawsuit, he said, is a way to seek redress.
The one hundred million-naira sum is called for to offset “general damages” visited on to him. For example, the agency officials named in the suit have tried to deny Felix Chukwuma access into the Corporate Affairs Commission building to do business for his clients. They had removed his name from the accreditation register, a move he calls “malicious, unlawful and illegal.” Felix Chukwuma is seeking a restraining order that would re-instate him.
Felix Chukwuma has had his share of legal maneuvers on the part of the agency to block him. In one instance officials from the State Security Services arrested him shortly after the publication of ‘Kubwa Express’ when he tried to visit the offices of the agency, he said.
Perhaps the lawsuit may be his answer to what he calls the “deterioration of services” at the agency, and a way to stop his own harassment as a whistle blower, while at the same time trying to do business.
What is about to take place in the Abuja federal court is important on many levels. On the one hand, whether or not a Nigerian national in the business community can get a ‘fair shake’ from an agency designed to encourage local business to flourish. On the other hand, it is important not only for the rising generation of young Nigerian would-be entrepreneurs, but for any business entity entertaining the possibility of doing business inside Nigeria in the global community.
    The case of Ashimole Felix Chukwuma against, the giant Corporate Affairs Commission is one worth watching.