The Corporate Affairs Commission (CA has postponed the implementation of its updated service fees until September 1 to accommodate user transitional challenges.
A statement titled “Postponement of Implementation of New Fees and Penalties for Document Downloads” was released on Monday, revealing this information.
The CAC said it has chosen to delay the introduction of the new fees and penalties for document downloads longer than seven days in response to input from stakeholders and customers and as part of its continuous efforts to guarantee the seamless operation of its updated Company Registration Portal.
“Originally scheduled to take effect on 1st August, the enforcement will now commence on 1st September, 2025, including the penalty for downloads after 7 days,” the statement partly reads.
The CAC recently announced a review of service fees, initially scheduled to start in August, which prompted the action.
Aims to improve service delivery, others
The fee adjustment, according to the Commission, is a component of continuous initiatives to improve operational effectiveness, improve service delivery, and address current economic realities.
It ascribed the review to growing operational expenses and wider economic pressures in a previous notice.
The Commission claims that the decision was brought about by “transitional challenges” that have been observed to be present for some users, specifically in areas like document downloads, payment processing, post-incorporation filings for business names, and the upload of specific required documents.
The Commission promised that in order to stabilise the system and maintain the portal’s full functionality, it is actively working with its technical partners and stakeholders.
“This temporary relief is part of our commitment to supporting businesses and ensuring a seamless user experience during this transition phase,” the statement added.
The Commission thanked users for their understanding and patience throughout the transition.
Introduction of AI-powered registration portal
In early July, the Corporate Affairs Commission announced the introduction of a pilot artificial intelligence-powered registration portal to replace the existing Company Registration Portal.
Hussaini Ishaq Magaji, the Commission’s chairman and registrar general, revealed this at the 2025 Stakeholders’ Forum.
The initiative, which aims to drastically shorten registration periods and improve the ease of doing business nationwide, was characterised as a game-changer in a statement released by the commission on July 1.
Magaji compared the new system to opening an email account, stating that it enables instant approvals for name reservations.
“It is intelligently designed to suggest available alternatives and grant real-time approvals, removing the traditional bottlenecks,” he said.
The portal’s capability to enable business registration with just a director’s or proprietor’s NIN is one of its most notable features.
According to Magaji, a certificate of incorporation will be created and sent to the applicant’s email within 30 minutes of the successful completion of real-time NIN verification.
He stated, “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.”
He acknowledged that the National Identity Management Commission’s external validations could still cause some delays, but he also disclosed that a backup plan has been incorporated into the platform to get around these issues by using AI-powered photo ID matching.
CAC addresses complaints of the AI-powered registration portal
The commission provided clarification in response to grievances about subpar service and technical difficulties with the new AI-powered registration system.
According to the Corporate Affairs Commission in a statement released on Sunday, more than 11,000 company registration and compliance cases are now handled every day by the Intelligent Companies Registration Portal, a recently implemented AI-driven registration platform.
The commission asserts that the portal recently processed 8,000 requests for name reservations in a single day.
The commission mentioned that the previous manual method required at least two weeks to complete the same task.
The commission asked for patience in the face of initial difficulties and user complaints about purported hiccups and delays on the agency’s recently launched online registration portal, especially from solicitors and business owners.