• CEO TELLS CITY LAWYER: ‘I DON’T UNDERSTAND’

Mikrodigital Connect, the ICT entity hired to provide the electronic voting platform for the forthcoming Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Elections, has remedied its non-payment of six-year arrears of Annual Returns to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

CITY LAWYER investigation shows that the entity commenced payment of the arrears around 10:06 pm yesterday and concluded the payment at 12:30 pm today. A screen shot of the payment details obtained from the CAC website shows that the entity paid its 2020 Annual Returns at 10:06 pm yesterday while the Annual Returns for 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 were paid between 11:50 am and 12:30 pm today.

When CITY LAWYER highlighted the non-compliance to the Chief Executive of the entity, Mr. Shamsuddeen Haruna, he said: “I was called on it but have you checked yourself?” Perhaps feigning ignorance of the non-compliance, he added: “I don’t understand?”

He then forwarded a screen shot of the entity’s CAC dashboard showing that the entity is showing an “ACTIVE” status.

However, CITY LAWYER investigation shows that the entity was displaying an “INACTIVE” status as lately as 12:11 pm today. Investigation revealed that the entity, categorized as a BUSINESS NAME by the CAC, had not paid its Annual Returns since 2020.

Aside from a Facebook page which was last updated on July 14, 2022, there is no indication that the entity has any other online presence.

When CITY LAWYER asked the Mikrodigital Connect chief executive whether the company has a website, he said: “We are currently upgrading all our systems by Gods (sic) grace later today or tomorrow it will be up. Our partners suggested we take the site down and modify it; Both our websites.”

Asked to avail CITY LAWYER with the web addresses, Haruna wrote: “As soon as it’s up (we) will share with you.”

CITY LAWYER recalls that CAC delisted 400,000 entities last year due to inactive or non-compliant status. Speaking on the exercise, CAC Registrar-General Hussaini Magaji stated that the move was meant to safeguard the integrity of the corporate register.

Under Section 425 (1) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020, every registered entity in Nigeria is required to file its annual returns not later than June 30 of each year.

Section 416 to 423 of CAMA are to the effect that where an entity fails to file its annual returns as it falls due, such entity and its directors or officers shall be liable to a penalty as may be determined by the CAC.

By Section 692(3) of CAMA 2020, the CAC is empowered to delist such an entity from the corporate registry if it fails to file annual returns for a consecutive period of 10 years.

Mikrodigital Connect is a self-styled “indigenous ICT Driven company with diverse business interests supported by specialized team of experts locally and globally in all the ICT Sector.”

An online profile of Haruna seen by CITY LAWYER indicates that he obtained a Master’s Degree in Web Design and Development ZM-BL from UNICAF University Zambia; BSc Computing and Information Technology from University of Derby, as well as Advance International Diploma (IAD-HND) in Computing, International Diploma in Informational Technology Informatics from the Academy Singapore.

Haruna wrote about himself: “I was opportune and privileged to lead the team of experts in designing the Nigerian Hub project; it was a platform that gives reach information about the country and also gives a medium for interactions between the government and its citizens. Amongst the project worked on was Nigeria Hub (N-Hub), Kano State ICT Center, Community Agro Business system (CABUS) empowerment program system, and File Management System is (sic) known as Fileware, Human Resources Management System, Clinic Management System, etc.”

It remains to be seen how the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) will respond to this latest corporate governance information on the entity.

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