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Preventing Deactivation of Your Corporate Account With Corporate Affairs Commission

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corporate account

By Benita Ayo

Recently, there has been a barrage of incidents where Corporate Accounts of business entities incorporated in Nigeria got deactivated by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja.

The reason is not far-fetched. It is a strict requirement of the law that all categories of business entities duly registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja, must comply with the extant provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020 by filing their Annual Returns at least once in every calendar year.

In practice, the relevant forms as it relates to each business entity are filled out by a Corporate Counsel who then uploads same for submission of the Return at the CAC portal with the audited Financial Statements of the Company/business entity duly annexed.

Upon approval, the Corporate Affairs Commission issues a Certificate of Annual Returns in favour of the business entity for the appropriate financial year.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

The Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020 stipulates stiff monetary measures for non-compliance with its rules on filing Annual Returns. For example, failure to promptly file the Annual Returns of your business within time and which under the current clime is on or before 30th June of each financial year attracts a fine of N5,000 (Five Thousand Naira Only).

Accrued default of Annual Returns filing attracts deeming the business entity as ‘inactive’ on the CAC register. This is a huge red flag as it turns potential investors away from doing business with the company.

Finally, if after a considerable number of time, the business fails to file its Annual Returns, in spite of the ‘inactive’ tag on its account with the CAC, the Commission proceeds with deactivating the account and finally deletes the company name from its register.

Conclusion

From the foregoing, it becomes imperative to ensure that upon the receipt of the certificate of incorporation of your business entity, one must engage and retain the services of a seasoned Corporate Counsel to ensure that all that is necessary is always done and complied with in order to keep and maintain the corporate image of a business.

For further consultations, you may reach me at WhatsApp: +2348063775768; and Email: [email protected]

Benita Ayo is a Seasoned Corporate Commercial Counsel with over 9 years post-call experience. She has handled myriads of briefs in Corporate/Commercial Practice, Employment Law as well as Property Transactional Practice. In addition, she is also a Regulatory Compliance professional helping her clients (corporate) safely and deftly navigate the murky legal waters of industry rules and regulations related to their peculiar businesses.

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Discover Money-Saving Hack with Temu for Budget-Friendly Shopping

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Want to stretch your budget further and join the force of smart buyers? You are not alone to make it a new year’s resolution. Thankfully, platforms like Temu provide  access to a wide range of quality products at competitive prices, offering value for money.

For those already embracing the budget-friendly world of Temu, the hunt for bargains is second nature. However, savvy shoppers are always seeking ways to maximise their savings further. Recently, a Nigerian Twitter personality, Queen Bee (@Oyinajibade), shared an exciting discovery: Temu’s price adjustment policy.

In her post, Queen Bee exclaimed, ‘Wait, Temu is offering a refund for items that have dropped in price after I’ve paid. Mad o!”. This revelation has delighted customers and sparked widespread social media interest, demonstrating the significant value of this policy.

What is Temu’s price adjustment policy?

Temu’s price adjustment policy ensures you always get the best deal. Essentially, if the price of an item you’ve purchased on Temu drops within 30 days, they will happily refund you the difference. This policy is a good safeguard for your wallet, ensuring you’re not overpaying.

It’s important to note that this policy applies to exact matches (same size, colour, and seller) and price drops within the same country or region. The policy doesn’t apply to promotional items, clearance deals, or items that are no longer available. Also, remember that shipping costs are not included in the refund calculation.

A Step-by-step guide on how to apply

To apply for a price adjustment on Temu, you can:

  • Go to ”Your Orders“

  • Select the order you want to adjust

  • Click ”Request a price adjustment“

For additional assistance, you can always reach out to Temu’s 24/7 customer service specialists via Temu.com or the Temu App Live Chat.

Other ways to save

Keeping an eye on homepage promotions is an excellent way to quickly find the most cost-effective products. Shoppers can also explore “Lightning Deals,” which are limited-time offers, and “Seasonal Offers” to discover items that align with their preferences. Temu, the direct-from-factory marketplace, offers year-round deals to help you enjoy shopping without breaking the bank.

Opting for  free standard shipping helps to minimise costs and avoid unexpected expenses. More so, joining conversations on platforms like X, Instagram and TikTok can also be beneficial. Other shoppers often share valuable tips, hidden gems, and information about new deals.

To significantly enhance their savings and make the most of this exciting shopping platform, Nigerian shoppers should effectively utilise Temu’s price adjustment policy and implement these strategies.

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World Holocaust Day: 80 Years After, Examining Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Stand at Nazi Camps

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Jehovah’s Witnesses' Nazi Camps

As the world commemorates World Holocaust Day on January 27, reporter Joke Thomas reflects on the history and lessons learned 80 years later, focusing on the inhumane treatment of groups opposed to the Nazi regime and the global response to genocide since World War II.

One group targeted by the Nazis and first to be sent to death camps was Jehovah’s Witnesses. For many, the observance of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp on January 27 is a sobering reminder of human atrocities – man’s injustice to fellow man.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD) honors Holocaust victims and promotes the educational and historical significance of this tragic period.

Auschwitz, during its nearly five years of operation, included a concentration camp, forced-labor camp, and extermination camp, with over 40 subcamps. The Nazi regime executed severe human rights abuses against millions, including Jews, Poles, Slavs, Roma and Sinti, homosexuals, and people with disabilities. Jehovah’s Witnesses were also persecuted; about 400 Witnesses of various nationalities were imprisoned at Auschwitz, where gas chambers claimed up to 6,000 lives daily.

Jehovah’s Witnesses were identified by a purple-triangle patch on their uniforms, signifying imprisonment for their religious beliefs, not their ethnicity.

“The Witnesses’ moral principles and practices did not align with the Nazi ideology of racism, hate, and extreme nationalism. Consequently, their activities were targeted, and they were banned in Germany as early as 1933.”

The story of how Jehovah’s Witnesses maintained their faith despite the cruelties of Auschwitz is a lesser-known part of Nazi-era history. Sociologist and Auschwitz survivor Anna Pawełczyńska noted that the small group of Witnesses stood out for their ideological strength.

Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum records indicate that Jehovah’s Witnesses were among the first prisoners sent to the camp. Of the hundreds of Witnesses incarcerated, at least 35% died there. The museum’s website states: “Jehovah’s Witnesses deserve closer attention for their ability to hold on to their moral principles under camp conditions.”

“On the scale of Auschwitz’s huge community, the Jehovah’s Witnesses constituted but a tiny, inconspicuous little group,” said sociologist and Auschwitz survivor Anna Pawełczyńska. “Nevertheless, the color of their triangular badge stood out so clearly in the camp that the small number does not reflect the actual strength of that group. This little group of prisoners was a solid ideological force, and they won their battle against Nazism.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses were persecuted solely based on their religious convictions. The Nazis offered them freedom if they renounced their faith and supported the regime, but they remained loyal to their values. On January 27, 1945, the Soviet Union’s Red Army liberated about 7,000 prisoners from the death complex.

Last year, Jehovah’s Witnesses released a digital brochure titled “Purple Triangles – Forgotten Victims of the Nazi Regime.” The 32-page brochure is available for free download on jw.org and features pictures and documents from a traveling exhibition. The exhibition, displayed at memorial museums and educational institutions across Europe, had been viewed by about 600,000 visitors by the end of 2002.

Jehovah witnesses believe and educate the public through their global bible-based campaigns of a future free of human suffering caused by all forms of injustices. To learn more, visit their official website ww.jw.org.

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NDDC and Sustainable Development in Niger Delta

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Chiedu Ebie NDDC Chairman

By Jerome-Mario Utomi

Reports have it that at Harvard Business School, United States of America (USA), the code of belief about entrepreneurship is quite simply this: It can be taught, and it can be learned.

Entrepreneurship is, to use HBS’s quasi-official definition, “the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.” It is not so much a set of skills as it is a process, a belief, and a commitment. It is a mode of thinking and acting – a war of observing the world, of figuring out how to change it (hopefully for the better), and, perhaps most important, of becoming the person who is capable of implementing the change.

Likewise, there is a veiled agreement among critical stakeholders that one of the outstanding boards in the present day Nigeria is visibly capped with skills, belief, commitment, mode of thinking and in vigorous pursuit of opportunities to sustainably remove obstacles on the part of its targeted beneficiaries.

Without regard to resources currently controlled, is the Barrister Chiedu Ebie-led governing board and management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), a Federal Government’s agency created in 2000 by enabling Act, to offer a lasting solution to the socio-economic difficulties of the Niger Delta and to facilitate the rapid and sustainable development of the region into an area that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful.

Adding context to the discourse, when crude oil was discovered in the region more than 50 years ago, the people could not have imagined that they would bear the brunt of the country’s main source of revenue. They expected that the exploitation of the rich natural resources they have in their environment would bring them development and prosperity. But alas, it has been a very painful experience for the people of the region.

Essentially, it is not as if past administrations in the country did not, at different times and places, make efforts to address the region’s challenges, but noble as those efforts were, considering the level of underdevelopment in the area, such effort appeared too insignificant and short of what is required to cater for the region’s development. More particularly, the effort remains a far cry from what was needed to exorcise the ghost of youth unemployment. This ugly narrative persisted in the face of concerns raised by the global community who were chiefly not convinced that what now rested administrations were doing was the best way to solve the problem of the Niger Delta.

Understandably, there is some truth in those concerns as expressed just as there is presently, a silver lining in the horizon. What we have today is an exact opposite! Niger Delta people of goodwill are equally of the view that what the region is experiencing this time around may no longer be the second half of a recurring circle, rather the beginning of something new and different.

Aside from the fact that the new governing board and management have to their credit, a well-established healthy relationship with critical stakeholders within the region and beyond, also worth underlining and of course, a lesson other agencies and commissions must imbibe, is the frantic efforts to put the Niger Delta in order via youth empowerment, human capital development and democratised infrastructural provisions.

A delectable account further indicates that the policy thrust and programmes coming from the new governing board and management of the agency amply qualify as development-based. This particular point partially explains why this piece is interested in the ongoing developmental strides in the region.

Prominent among these projects, programmes and initiatives are the building of partnerships, lighting up the region, initiating sustainable livelihood, improving youth capacity and skills base, executing efficient and cost-effective projects, including the Project Hope for Renewed Hope, reducing carbon emission, and improving peace and security.

From what development professionals are saying, a programme is development- based when it entails an all-encompassing improvement, a process that builds on itself and involves both individuals and social change. It also requires growth and structural change, with some measures of distributive equity, modernisation in social and cultural attitudes; a degree of political transformation and stability, improvement in health and education so that population growth stabilises, and an increase in urban living and employment.

Viewed broadly, it is public knowledge that throughout the early decades, the world paid little attention to what constitutes sustainable development. Such conversation, however, gained global prominence via the United Nations introduction, adoption and pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which lasted between 2000 and 2015. It was, among other intentions, aimed at eradicating extreme poverty and hunger as well as achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, among others.

Without going into specific concepts or approaches contained in the performance index of the programme, it is factually supported that the majority of the countries, including Nigeria, performed below average. And, it was this reality and other related concerns that conjoined to bring about 2030 sustainable agenda- a United Nations initiative and successor programme to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)- with a collection of 17 global goals formulated among other aims to promote and cater for people, peace, planet, and poverty. It has at its centre, partnership and collaboration, ecosystem thinking, co-creation and alignment of various intervention efforts by the public and private sectors and civil societies.

Very remarkable is that all the NDDC’s projects/programmes were crafted in line with the above initiatives. If in doubt, checkout the agency’s scheme known as Holistic Opportunities, Projects and Engagement (HOPE); It is primed to provide a platform to empower youths of the region on sustainable basis, designed to create a comprehensive resources database of the youth population of the Niger Delta to enable NDDC see clearly what the youths want in their strive for sustainability in conformity with international best practices and development.

The project HOPE’ initiative is positioned for creating youth employment opportunities, especially in agriculture through support to small-holder farmers in order to ensure operational growth while shifting from traditional to mechanized farming methods.

“Because of the arable wetlands, rainfalls and other favourable ecological factors to plant various crops and vegetables at least four times within a farming season, the agency is proactively moving away from the oil economy to the agricultural sector which can accommodate our youths in large numbers is the agricultural sector.”

For me, NDDC’s solutions to youth unemployment and development of climate for sustainable future and innovation will assist to promote the critical thrust of governance and maximise the benefits citizens derive from governance.

For example, talking about youth unemployment in Nigeria, a report recently put it this way: “We are in dire state of strait because unemployment has diverse implications. Security wise, large unemployed youth population is a threat to the security of the few that are employed. Any transformation agenda that does not have job creation at the centre of its programme will take us nowhere”.

As we know, youth challenge cuts across, regions, religion, and tribe, and had in the past led to the proliferation of ethnic militia as well as youth restiveness across the country.

What the above information tells us as a nation is that the ongoing creative and transformative leadership at NDDC calls for collective support and it should be used as both a model and template by all strata of government in the country, for correcting public leadership challenges via adoption of approaches that impose more leadership discipline.It is in doing this that we can achieve sustainable development as a nation.

Utomi, a Media Specialist writes from Lagos, Nigeria. He could be reached via [email protected]/08032725374.

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