CAC to use emails and courier services to deliver company certificate

Starting August 10, 2020, the Nigerian Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has announced that it will begin delivering electronic services to its customers.

This means that instead of having a representative of the company come pick the registration certificate at the commission’s office, it will be received via mailing systems.

The new policy was made known by the Registrar-General of the commission, Abubakar Garba, in a conference held yesterday, July 26, in Abuja. He also noted that the companies will bear the cost of delivery.

Seeing that the commission operates based on physical contact between workers and customers, it could spread the coronavirus that has plagued the country in the last five months. The commission said this new move is to adhere to the safety guidelines set out by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Registrar-General noted that “the CAC as a responsible organisation cannot continue to accommodate the crowd in its premises and must do everything possible to abide by the Federal Government regulations.”

“Therefore, with effect from August 10 and August 31, 2020, customers in Abuja and Lagos respectively will be required to send and receive documents from the commission through designated courier companies.

“This is to control the physical presence of customers coming to submit or pick up documents in the premises and also ensure their convenience in getting access to our services. The commission will also put in place a process for sending/receiving documents/transactions to/from Customers through e-mails.

“With this, the physical submission of original documents before collection of pre-incorporation Certificates will be dispensed with. The documents uploaded online by the customer and approved for the registration would suffice. Customers should note that the new process has placed a responsibility on them to ensure that their documents are duly signed by the persons whose names appear therein in any transaction they present for filing.”

Recall that as part of the Ease of Doing Business Initiative, the commission collaborated with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to issue Tax Identification Numbers (TIN) alongside the Certificate of Incorporation for companies and businesses. It will see that business owners will no longer need to apply for the issuance of TIN from the FIRS after incorporation.

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