The Corporate Affairs Commission has launched a pilot Artificial Intelligence-powered registration portal, marking a major milestone in Nigeria’s business registration landscape and signalling a total overhaul of the current Company Registration Portal.
The Registrar-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, Hussaini Ishaq Magaji (SAN), disclosed this at the 2025 Stakeholders’ Forum meeting.
A statement issued by the commission on Tuesday described the initiative as a game-changer aimed at significantly reducing registration timelines and enhancing the ease of doing business across the country.
According to Magaji, the new system allows for instant name reservation approvals, likening the process to opening an email account. “It is intelligently designed to suggest available alternatives and grant real-time approvals, removing the traditional bottlenecks,” he said.
One of the portal’s standout features is its ability to facilitate business registration using only the National Identification Number of a director or proprietor.
Magaji said that once real-time NIN verification is successful, a certificate of incorporation would be generated and delivered to the applicant’s email within 30 minutes.
“The target time for business registration is under 30 minutes to generate a certificate and deliver to the customer’s email, subject to real-time NIN verification.”
While acknowledging that some delays may still arise due to external validations from the National Identity Management Commission, he revealed that a contingency plan has been built into the platform, using AI-powered photo ID matching to overcome such hitches.
In addition, the commission plans to introduce a two-factor authentication system with OTP verification for all transactions. This, according to him, will ensure no changes can be made to company records without the explicit knowledge and consent of the registered directors.
Magaji further announced that a CAC mobile application would be launched in the final quarter of 2025 to allow users to track and manage transactions on the go.
Speaking on new partnerships, he disclosed that the Commission is currently reviewing over 100 requests from local and international super agents, including the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System, aimed at deepening access and streamlining services.
Meanwhile, the Registrar-General also revealed that the commission would commence a review of its service fees effective August 1, 2025, citing the need to maintain service quality and implement ongoing reforms.
The statement added that goodwill messages at the forum were delivered by the Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Port Harcourt Branch, Cordelia U. Eke; Chairman, Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, Sir Sebastian Essien; and Chairman, Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, Elder Dogala Sakpege.
Also in attendance were Dr Mechi Brown, Director of Industry at the Rivers State Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and Miema Akpa, who represented the Chairman of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Port Harcourt branch.
A CAC technical team was present during the event to attend to customer complaints and provide on-the-spot solutions to registration challenges.
