A businessman, Emmanuel Haruna, has dragged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to court over Point of Sale (PoS) registration.

He said the directive by the 1st respondent to register his PoS with the 2nd respondent is solely geared at revenue generation without considering the economic impact on the applicant and the other PoS operators.

The applicant in his fundamental rights suit filed on his behalf by his counsel, Olumide Babalola, at the Federal High Court, Lagos, prayed to the court for an order setting aside the directive requiring individual PoS terminal operators to register with the 2nd respondent (CAC).

He is seeking for an order of court for perpetual injunction restraining the respondents, their officers, their agents and/or employees from further requiring or mandating the applicant and/or other PoS Terminal Operators to register with the 2nd respondent.

The plaintiff in his originating summons, is also seeking the Court’s declaration that the 1st respondent’s directive to PoS terminal operators to submit their personal information for registration with the CAC (2nd respondent) constitutes an interference with the applicant’s right to privacy guaranteed by section 37 of the 1999 Constitution.

He is also asking the Court to declare that the 1st respondent’s directive to PoS terminal operators to submit their personal information for the purpose of registration with the CAC is unfair and contrary to the provision of section 24(1) of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.

In addition, the applicant wants the Court to set aside the directive of the respondents requiring individual PoS Terminal Operators to register with the CAC.

In his 15-paragraph affidavit in support of the application, he averred that “no law empowers them to force petty traders like himself to register as a business name or a company”, adding that the decision to form a company is a voluntary decision, which ought not to be coerced.

“The directive will further unleash economic hardship on low-income earners like me, who resorted to PoS operations when I could not secure any other gainful employment,” he swore.