By Ossom Raphael

Abuja – The Registrar General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Garba Abubakar, has said that the Commission intend to reduce time for business registration to three hours before the end of the 2021.

Abubakar, revealed that the commission would provide laptops to over 400 selected personnel to enable it reduce the time for business registration for three hours.

The CAC Boss, was speaking in Abuja at the weekend in a dinner organised in honour of Ademola Seriki, Chairman CAC Governing Board and Nigerian Ambassador-Designate to the Kingdom of Spain.

He said registering companies can now be done from the comfort of home without visiting CAC offices.

“You can now start and finish your companies registration and get your certificates without waiting for a courier company to deliver it.

“This is a phenomenal achievement because when we started last year, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic made the process slow and cumbersome.

“The Commission was forced to take painful decision. We had to suspend the physical registration of businesses. There was resistance from some of our customers who were apprehensive of this development.

“We expect that this achievement will make significant impact, because electronic registration has become a global system.

“Our next focus is to provide laptops to over 400 personnel so that wherever they may be, they will be working from there.

“We are hoping that this will be achieved before the end of this year. We intend to reduce the time for business registration for three hours. We believe, this will be achieved before the end of the year.

“We will continue to remain focused and deliver on our mandate. We will continue to reposition the Commission for greater efficient service delivery”, Abubakar, said.

Speaking with journalists at the sidelines of a dinner held in his honour, Ademola Seriki, said most companies in the country do not pay their annual returns.

He said in developed countries, companies that fail to pay annual returns are regarded as not valid to operate.

His words: “Most companies don’t pay their annual returns. It’s a problem. You will see a company that will bid for procurement of hundreds of billions of dollars and never paid returns in 20, 30 years.”

He however, revealed that the Commission has put in place strategies to ensure companies paid their annual returns, adding that the document is waiting for Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval.

Seriki, said one of the first things that would be done under his leadership as Ambassador would be to work with the Ministry of Justice and Nigeria’s Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment to look at areas that Nigeria can harness in boosting the level of trade between both countries.

He also said that a team would be set up to monitor the implementation of trade treaties between both countries, adding that one of the challenges that Nigeria has in international bilateral relations is the area of implementation.

“We have to seat down, work with the Spanish government, Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Trade in particular.

“The problem in Nigeria is that we don’t have people who will be in charge of implementation and we will have desk officers that would be assigned specific responsibilities to ensure the realisation of trade agreements without procrastination”, Seriki said.

Also speaking at the event, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo described the described the Ambassador Designate to the Kingdom of Spain as one who has what it takes to achieve the task given by the President.

He described the relationship between Seriki and the management of CAC as one that is worthy of emulation.

On her part, the Minister of State, Industry Trade and Investment Mariam Katagum advised Seriki, that there is a lot of work to be done in Spain because of the its proximity to countries such as France and Portugal among others.

“The President has put a lot of confidence in you and you need to ensure that you perform tn assignment given to you very well.

“You are going to Spain to make a difference, dont just focus in the area of trade and bilateral relations, but also look out for Nigerians that are living in that country because we have a lot of them there,” she said.