Why We’re Digitizing Our Service, Says CAC Boss

The Registrar-General, Corporate Affair Commission (CAC), Garba Abubakar has promised to enhance its business transactions by going fully digital.

Speaking on the sidelines at a two-day Customers’ Stakeholders’ Forum held in Lagos as part of its activities to mark this year’s Customer Service Week, Abubakar said there has been a shift in its operation, especially after lessons were learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If there’s one thing the pandemic has taught us, it’s to operate without the needs of our physical presence. The lockdown period was a difficult season for us, not in terms of the income but because CAC was inaccessible to customers.

“When the first lockdown was announced we had pending transactions and when the government relaxed it, we could only recall 25 percent of our employees so we couldn’t attend to all applications and other resolution files. We, therefore, introduced the use of courier service which is not too good.

“But, since we launched the portal in January, the successes recorded are unprecedented as customers can now access all our services from all over the world and I can tell you that CAC is one of the most improved Federal Government organisations.

“The commission is committed to excellent service delivery; we have made a significant difference by adopting the use of digital channels including Telegraph and other portals to resolve key issues. From company registration, business names to dissolution, you do it electronically.

You don’t need to visit our office except there are a few glitches that might need to be addressed and this is the essence of today’s interactions. Before the year runs out, we will also be launching different electronic interfaces especially for the submission of Financial Statement among other platforms.”

On the importance of the forum, the Registrar-General said it’s to promote efficiency and improve service delivery.

“This is part of our feedback mechanism to hear from our customers – their experiences on the use of our registration portals and – interact with them on the possible area of challenges so they can have seamless transactions. From the feedback, the commission received acknowledgement for service rendered but there are a lot of areas that need to be fine-tuned but we will analyse it, evaluate it and improve upon it so that customers can continue to have seamless transactions with the commission.

While admitting some of its challenges, Abubakar the level of involvement of its desk officers needs to be upscale.