As part of the Federal Government’s determination to enhance the ease of doing business in the country, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), on Wednesday evening announced that incorporation of companies in Nigeria will now be done within 48 hours of completing the application forms and submitting required documents.
In a statement, the commission assured that while the CAC has made the need for professional service providers like lawyers/accredited agents/chartered secretaries optional, registration of business names can now be down electronically.
All that is required is for those seeking to register business names to scan and upload their incorporation documents through the document upload interface on the CAC website.
Thereafter, “the commission will approve the application on the strength of the canned documents, print registration certificate (and) certify the MEMART (Memorandum and Article of Association) and Form CAC 1.1.”
The customer can then submit original copies of the scanned documents at the point of collecting the certificate of registration and certified true copies of the incorporation document.
The statement however noted that collection of the incorporation documents would only be upon satisfaction “that the original documents are the same with the copies already scanned.”
Explaining further in a series of tweets, Enabling Business Environment Secretariat (EBES), which is aimed at “making business work in Nigeria,” said already, the CAC portal also has a public search window where a customer can confirm whether a preferred company is available and as part of the project, it is projected that in less than two weeks, business owners will be able to pay stamp duties directly on CAC portal, following its integration with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) e-stamp solution.
Also, as part of easing the process of company registration, the commission says it is working hard to improve reliability of its portal, which currently experiences a lot of downtime, within a 60-day timeline.
“The commission has committed to external hosting of its database to fix this,” it said, calling for feedback on the reforms.
Reacting to the series of tweets, Charlie Robertson, Global Chief Economist at Renaissance Capital and author, expressed belief that fast-tracking the process to one or two days would lift Nigeria’s place in the ease of doing business ranking significantly from 138th position it occupied in 2016.
Also, certification of incorporation forms and statutory declaration of compliance is now to be handed free of charge by CAC internal lawyers
Also, as part of improving the nation’s ranking in the global ease of doing business table, the Federal Government said it has reduced the number of agencies operating at air and sea ports to six from 15.
This is in addition to harmonising the Entry and Exit Forms being managed by different agencies of government at the nation’s airports, such that instead of filling four different forms to exit, there is just one, containing 15 instead of 23 questions.
This according to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has been achieved through the efforts of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), as part of making it possible to clear goods in less than 48 hours.
The Minister who spoke in Abuja on Thursday when he received Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, the Coordinator and Secretary to the PEBEC, added that government has also made significant improvement in easing the bureaucracy associated with the registration of companies, which can now be done online within a short time.
All of these, he continued, are part of the administration’s commitment to improving Nigeria’s ranking in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index, adding that the current ranking of 169 out of 190 countries is unacceptable, adding that “the things that we don’t take seriously, like a file staying for 14 days on somebody’s desk, add to this poor ranking.
“People don’t seem to appreciate how the poor attitude to work impacts negatively on the image of Nigeria and the ease of doing business. This is what this Council has been working on since last year and I am proud to say that this Council has been working slowly and steadily but they are actually achieving results,” he said.
Citing the example of Georgia, which was ranked in the 160s a few years ago but currently occupies the 5th position in the global index on the Ease of Doing Business, Alhaji Mohammed said though the task of moving Nigeria up the ladder is daunting, there is the abundance of the political will on the part of government to achieve such improvement.
He lauded the various initiatives being implemented by the Council to move Nigeria 20 steps upwards in the index, just as he spoke on the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Clinic being organised by the Council across the states of the federation, which aims at addressing the challenges confronting the MSMEs on the spot.
Speaking earlier, Dr. Oduwole listed the 2017 priority areas for business reform to include: Starting a Business, Getting Credit, Trading Across the Border, Paying Taxes, Construction Permits and Registering Property.
She said “the Visa-on-Arrival Programme has been updated to include e-submission. Before people had to go to the Immigration Office to submit in person so that the Comptroller General of Immigration could give his assent, but now you can submit and they is also a dedicated desk and you don’t have to go physically anymore,” she said.
