CAC reacts to lamentations over ineffective portal as complaints mount

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has responded to criticism about its new AI-powered registration portal, which has been plagued by technical issues and complaints from lawyers and businesses.

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PREMIUM TIMES had on Saturday reported how the new AI-powered registration portal has been plagued by technical issues, causing frustration and challenges for businesses in Nigeria.

Lawyers who act as registration agents told this newspaper that the portal has been inaccessible for weeks, with customers unable to perform critical tasks, including the inability to conduct name searches, register business names, file post-incorporation documents, and submit annual returns.

The situation, they said, has also raised concerns about the ease of doing business in Nigeria, with potential investors likely to be deterred by the commission’s system issues.

They expressed frustration with the commission’s handling of the situation, citing a lack of transparency and communication about the issues and the timeline for resolution, speculating that the commission’s actions may frustrate the system and justify the proposed fee hike scheduled to take effect in August.

In a statement by its management on Sunday, CAC attributed some of the issues to glitches experienced by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) portal.

The commission emphasised its commitment to delivering quality service and highlighted the measures it has taken to improve the portal’s performance.

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The CAC explained that it had explored an alternative technology solution to verify the myriad of data submitted along with applications due to the NIMC portal glitches.

Additionally, the commission said it has forwarded a request for additional payment gateways to the appropriate authority to ensure real-time payments without obstacles.

“It is imperative to note that the commission has a collaboration/ integration on its portal with other stakeholders for the payment of services like remita and stamp duty payments,” the statement said.

In accordance with provisions of Data Protection Act, 2023, according to the commission, its newly deployed Intelligent Companies Registration Portal (ICRP), introduced additional security checks to amongst others prevent users from surrendering their access to third parties or operating multiple suspicious accounts.

The ICRP it said requires that for each transaction with the CAC a One Time Passcode, OTP must be generated, and it goes straight to the email or phone number of the original account holder.

The commission further emphasised that the new system is cost-effective, as customers no longer lose money on checking availability, adding that the innovation has ensured that customers only proceed to payment after securing the name.

It noted that the ICRP has so far been speedily responding to applications as it now treats over 11,000 cases per day.

“Interestingly as of Friday 16 July, 8,000 name reservation requests were received and processed. This is no doubt a feat that hitherto requires a minimum of 2 weeks to complete. Worthy of note is that the commission receives a minimum of 3000 emails necessitating her automation to deliver quality service to its esteemed customers,” CAC said.

The commission said it is not unmindful of the fact that transition comes with challenges.

“With valuable feedback from stakeholders, we are sure of delivering a better-quality service. The CAC therefore wishes to state its unalloyed commitment to soon make the portal perform optimally as a champion of service delivery to the commendation of customers and stakeholders.

“The CAC had continuously pursued reforms that are customer-centric by emplacing processes and frameworks that would stand the test of time in service delivery,” the statement said.

Key concerns not addressed

CAC, in its statement, failed to adequately address the concerns of users raised in PREMIUM TIMES report, with complaints continuing to mount.

Speaking to this newspaper on Sunday evening, an Abuja-based lawyer, Yomi Ogunsanya, said the rejoinder is “very watery, and failed to address key issues, like proposed increase due by 1 August, no timeline as to when it will be concluded and become optimal, failed payments, expired availabilities etc.”

Reacting to the CAC statement on X, an X user, S.O Umar said: “The portal has not been working. Payments are not validating and previous work is inaccessible. Approval has been inconsistent and you are planning to increase the price by next month with this headache of a thing. You should test-run it properly before introducing the public.”

An X user, Eromosele Ighagbon, wrote: “In your response, you did talk about payment made and duly confirmed and receipted by remita but not recognised by your portal. This may eventually lead to loss of funds and reputation damage to accredited agents. No mention was made of your inefficient help desk.”

Another X user, Henry Imahigbe, said: “To download documents already processed is impossible with the new I-CRP. Each time I want to download it brings the 404 error message. And 7 days of grace to download is almost gone. Kindly address that aspect.”

READ ALSO: Lawyers decry CAC’s AI portal, cite challenges

A lawyer, Oge Obasi, said “The post incorporation portal was inaccessible for close to 2 weeks after the ICRP was launched making filing impossible. When it became accessible, users are being slammed with queries to pay penalties for late filing, caused by the inaccessible portal. This is really unfair.”

An X user, Hanif…Wali, said: “This rejoinder is vague and verbose. It doesn’t address the issues faced by legal practitioners. The issues are still unattended to.”

Toornie, an X user, wrote “You haven’t answered the many questions that were raised. Sometimes, it’s better to keep quiet than reacting in a grossly dumb way. Payments not reflecting. Approval not granted. Denials without reasons. To mention a few. People are going through it with your platform.”