The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) demonstrated on
Wednesday that business owners in Nigeria can now conveniently register their
businesses online within 48 hours.
At a CAC Customers’ Forum in Lagos organised in
collaboration with the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council
(PEBEC), the CAC Registrar-General, Mr. Mahmud Bello, explained that a series
of reforms have been implemented by the Commission this year to make it
“quicker, cheaper and more convenient” for Nigerians to start businesses.
“The CAC as an agency of Government involved in the
startup of business has strongly keyed into the vision of the Federal
Government to make Nigeria a progressively easier place for businesses to start
and thrive,” Bello said. “Our reforms are designed with the MSMEs in mind. For
us, the Customer is King and must be treated with royalty.”
Highlight of the event was a live technical
demonstration session by the Commission on its latest reforms such as the
Document Upload Interface which enables e-submission of registration documents
on the CAC Company Registration Portal, and the integration of the FIRS
e-payment solution into the CAC portal to enable e-stamping. Participants were
also given a walk-through of the Public Search Window and the Single
Incorporation Form.
The CAC informed participants at the Forum that
paper-based manual incorporation process would be gradually phased out in the
course of the year, starting with Lagos and Abuja where all submissions must be
done online from April 30th.
The Forum was highly interactive with Customers
offering suggestions, asking questions and stating opinions which the CAC
promised “will form the agenda for deliberation by Management to further
improve service delivery.”
In a goodwill message at the event, the Secretary to
the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), Dr. Jumoke
Oduwole, said that the Council is committed to providing complete support to the
CAC and all other MDAs implementing reforms to actualise the FG’s mandate of
making businesses work in Nigeria.
She said that Nigerians would be carried along in the
process as PEBEC is mindful of the fact that the success of its reforms will
depend on the testimonials of customers like those gathered at the CAC Forum.
Dr. Oduwole also noted that PEBEC’s other target of moving Nigeria 20 places
upward in the World Bank’s Doing Business Rankings by October cannot be
actualised if stakeholders do not adopt and utilise the completed reforms.
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Business