A post circulating on WhatsApp claims the Federal Government of Nigeria has approved free online company registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for all self-employed business owners. This, it said, is inclusive of several benefits.
This registration, the post claims, comes with benefits that include: free trip to the United Kingdom, N50,000 cash, free international trade, among others. The post retrieved from a WhatsApp group on May 21, 2021, asked people to enroll for the registration via an attached web link.
The CAC was established in 1990 with the responsibility of regulating the formation and management of companies in Nigeria.
A false post shared on WhatsApp with a dubious website masquerading as the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) of Nigeria.
The Claim
The Federal Government of Nigeria has approved registration of companies online for free with benefits such as free trip to the United Kingdom, N50,000 cash, free international trade, among others.
The Findings
The post read: “FEDERAL GORVERNMENT HAS APPROVED All SELF EMPLOYED AND BUSSINESS OWNERS TO CARRY-OUT THEIR C.A.C(CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION) REGISTRATION ONLINE FREE OF CHARGE
BENEFITS OF C.A.Cs are -Free N50,000 cash from FG -Certificate of Incorporation -Legal Liability Protection -Free International Trade -Continuity -Free Trip to UK -Reputation With Customers -Getting on FG Record. ENROL NOW.”
The Federal Government has approved all self-employed and business owners to carry out their Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) registration online free of charge.
Checks by the FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
The FactCheckHub observes that the website attached to the claim has similar characteristics of phishing websites attached to claims previously debunked here and here.
The website attached to the claim is different from the official website of the CAC.
The official website of the CAC is cac.gov.ng and the the page for company registration activities is https://pre.cac.gov.ng/home
The website in the claim seeks to fraudulently acquire people’s information as it asks them to fill their basic information such as email, phone number, name, business name and address.
You can learn how to identify phishing websites through here.
The FactCheckHub findings show that the Federal Government had, in November 2020, declared open free 250,000 business names registration for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 on the sector.
No fewer than 100,000 MSMEs eventually benefitted from free registration then, an initiative the phishers are probably riding on to bolster their phishing website.
Similarly, spokesperson of the Corporate Affairs Commission Duke Ukaja confirmed to the FactCheckHub that the post in circulation is false.
“It did not emanate from us, it is fake,” Ukaja told the FactCheckHub via a telephone conversation.
Verdict
The claim that Federal Government of Nigeria approved registration of companies online for free with benefits such as free trip to the United Kingdom, N50,000 cash, free international trade, among others, is FALSE. The information is not from the CAC, neither is the provided registration web link that of the CAC.
'Niyi worked with The ICIR as an Investigative Reporter and Fact-checker from 2020 till September 2022. You can shoot him an email via [email protected]. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @niyi_oyedeji.