When President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Mr Garba Abubakar as the Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in January 2020, not too many people would have imagined him transforming the agency into a service-oriented and efficiency-driven organisation within the shortest possible time.

So far, even though many government agencies have spent the better part of the year fighting Covid-19, the Abubakar-led CAC have devised ingenious ways to seek solutions to the problems of the organisation especially in the area of service delivery.

In appointing Abubakar, President Buhari would have meticulously considered his expertise and years of service at CAC. Since joining the Commission about two decades ago, Abubakar has lived through some of the worst times at the organisation.

The tales of poor customer service, corruption, maladministration and inefficiency which were well-known to those who interfaced regularly with the agency were a routine. Surely, he was given a clear mandate and powers to reform the organisation by the President. His task was therefore, simple in face value, but tough in implementation.

The first task he carried out was the full implementation of the online business registration by Nigerians. This meant that the previous time consuming, corruption-prone and laborious Manual Registration process had to be discarded completely. It’s now mandatory for those willing to register their businesses to get them done fully on the Company Registration Portal (CRP).

In other to smoothen the process of business registration, the CAC has been able to come up with smoother processes for business registration with the merging of two separate processes of registering a business and getting tax identification numbers into one.

This has helped improve the Ease of Doing Business Index in Nigeria. This has been made possible with an effective partnership with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) which issues intending company promoters their Tax Identification Numbers (TINs). In addition to this, the CAC has commenced the process of rewarding companies which complied with its specified requirements, stated in the Companies and Allied Matters Act.

Arising from this, the Abubakar-led Commission has also commenced full closure of Manual Registration nationwide and deployment of online real time Pre-Incorporation registration services to all State Offices through the Company Registration Portal (CRP), to enable members of the public register their businesses from the comfort of their homes and offices within 24 hours.

This initiative has been warmly received across board. It will be recalled that Professor Yemi Osinbajo signed a Presidential Executive Order on Ease of Doing Business in 2017 and the CAC is taking steps to achieve its full implementation with the commencement of online business registration. This also cuts out the extra costs Nigerians pay to third parties in the process of Business Name registration.

As the campaign for Open Government increases worldwide, Barrister Abubakar is quickly following this trend by institutionalizing the Open Government Policy (OGP) at CAC. Under his watch, CAC received a grant of USD 400,000 from the World Bank under the OGP Multi-Donor Trust Fund for the development and deployment of electronic register of beneficial ownership.

The budget includes funding for stakeholders engagement activities with civil society. Without effective implementation of the OGP, the CAC couldn’t have achieved a consensus as a government agency with the Civil Society in a manner that will be acceptable to all.

This was why various workshops were held across the country in partnership with concerned Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to enlighten key stakeholders and galvanize their support for the passage of the Company and Allied Matters Bill into law by the National Assembly earlier this year.

In the area of manpower development, the Abubakar-led Commission has introduced Computer Based Test (CBT) for conduct of Promotion Examinations to ensure prompt release of results and enhance transparency and integrity of the process. This has effectively made CAC the first parastatal to introduce this efficient, transparent, and cost-effective means of human resource development.

While there are several other lofty achievements of the CAC since Abubakar took over this year, the Commission still has a long way to go to cope with the increasing demands of young Nigerians in the digital age. Also, while it may be too early to start singing his accolades, it is important to point out the good from leaders in Nigerian government especially as many will agree there is not enough of them who understand the role and essence of the posts they occupy.

Barrister Abubakar, an astute administrator, has started on the right footing as CAC boss in his first year in office, we hope that he has set a clear direction for the agency to carry on and can only wish him more successes at the helms of affairs at the Commission.

Vanguard News Nigeria