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TOBI SONIYI

Dear Counsel, Due to a high demand of my products, I recently moved my equipment from the East to Lagos, to expand my shoe making business. My products have started going to different places like Abuja, Kano, Jos, and as far as Cotonou, Ghana and Ivory Coast.

My friend who is into ladies fashion design, advised me to properly register my business as a limited liability company.

He further directed me, to someone whom he claimed registered his own company. But I discovered that the person is not a Lawyer, so I exercised some caution, though the person continued to assure me that incorporating a business is not only done by Lawyers, and that he has done it for many people. Although he showed me many certificates and documents of businesses he has incorporated, I want some clarification on this. Can a non-Lawyer incorporate a limited liability company? J.I.E., Maryland, Lagos. Dear J.I.E., Although the Corporate Affairs Commission has liberalised its requirements for incorporating businesses in the past few years, to allow non-Lawyers initiate the process of incorporation, the law provides clearly that the services of a Lawyer cannot entirely be dispensed with, in the process.

Section E of the forms, specifically provides for ‘Statutory Declaration of Compliance with the Requirements of CAMA by a Legal Practitioner’. This section provides explicitly, that only a Lawyer can attest and declare that the process has fully complied with CAMA’s statutory provisions.

I would therefore, advice that you engage a Lawyer, to ensure that your incorporation fully satisfies the provisions of the law.